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MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

IN THE GARDEN LIBRARY

The Flower Garden
The Vegetable Garden
Orchard and Fruit Garden
Daffodils, Narcissus and How to Grow Them
Roses and How to Grow Them
House Plants and How to Grow Them
Ferns and How to Grow Them
Lawns and How to Make Them
Water-Lilies and How to Grow Them
Vines and How to Grow Them
Chrysanthemums and How to Grow Them
Garden Planning

Modern
Strawberry Growing

ALBERT E. WILKINSON, B. S.

Instructor and Investizator in Horticulture

Niw York State Colleze of Azricultun

at Corntll University

UNIFORM WITH "tHE GARDEN LIBRARY*'

ILLUSTRATED

Gakdbn Citt New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1913

DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & CoMPANT

Ml rights reserved, including that of

translation into foreign languages^

including iht Scandinavian

PREFACE

It is more than twenty-five years since
a complete book on this subject has been
published.

It would seem that this particular crop
had been somewhat neglected except for the
work of the horticultural experimenters at
the various State and Government Experi-
ment Stations, and through reports published
in the farm papers of the work by practical
growers. All this available material on the
subject has been taken and "boiled down"
in the shape of a practical book, in the inter-
ests of the general farmer and amateur
gardener, so that they may produce a more
than liberal quantity of this healthful,
delicious fruit for their own use, and obtain
more real pleasure and benefit from a small
plot of land intensively devoted to this
crop than from any other crop requiring
the same amount of care and attention.

The old cry that "the strawberry industry

VI PREFACE

is being overdone" is not founded on facts.
At anytime of year, in practically any market,
the supply of first-class, well-packed, high-
priced berries is never equal to the demand.
There is, however, in some cases, owing
partially to the lack of a proper packing

Standard, or growers' organization, and
partly to the oversupply in some markets
of a very poor fruit, a glutted market on
strawberries for a short time, but these
are not the high-class fruit.

In the words of the law on supply and
demand, ^^ Demand is increased by a crop
of well-grown, well-packed and properly sold
fruit."

CONTENTS

CBAPIBK PAGI

I. Selection of Site - 3

11. Manuring and Fitting 9

III. Marking and Planting 19

IV. After Care — Fertilizers ... . 38
V. Insects, Diseases, and Spraying ... 60

VI. Picking, Packing, and Marketing . . 73

VII. Mulching, Renovating the Old Bed . . 88

VIII. Winter Forcing loi

IX. Propagation, Breeding no

X. Scoring and Judging 127

XL Costs, Yields, and Profits 133

XII. Strawberries for the Home .... 140

XIII. Alpine Strawberries 161

XIV. Fall-Bearing Strawberries 171

XV. What is The American Strawberry? . . 179

XVI. Varieties for Special Purposes . . . 190

Index 209

ILLUSTRATIONS

Good to the Bottom .

Cultivate! ....

Light Work and Profitable .

Quick Planting .

Planting ....

The Matted Row in Full Bearing

Matted-Row System .

Hedge-Row System

Hill System

Strawberries as a Catch Crop

The Newly Set Bed .

Rooting Runners in Pots

Potted Plants

Forced Strawberries

The Time to Mulch

Forcing in Pots .

Forcing on Benches

Plants in the Coldframe

Forced Marshall Plants in Fruit

Strawberries in Florida

Irrigation . . . •

Protecting Strawberries from the Birds

Frontispiece

TACING PAGE

21
28
29
36
37
44
45
64

80
81
102
103
106
107
116
117

124

ILLUSTRATIONS

As a Decorative Plant 125

In the Home Garden i5o

The Alpine Strawbeny 161

Commercial Culture i^

In the Field. . . .... 177

Weather and Fruit ProspecU . , , 194

Strawbeny Flowers ..... 195

Map Showing the Pomological Division of the

United States 205

Every Plant a Quart . . . ' . .206

One Reason for a Bad Crop . . . . 207

MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

MODERN STRAWBERRY

GROWING

CHAPTER I
Selection of Site

In the selection of a suitable site for a
strawberry plantation there are a great
many environmental factors to consider, the
principal ones being climate, slope or expos-
ure, drainage, kind of soil, and condition
of the soil. Considering these factors in
their order, and viewing the advantages and
disadvantages, with the ideal in each, will
give the prospective strawberry grower some
idea of just how near to the best selection he
is able to come, and may help in correcting
and improving his choice of site.

It is often stated that this or that variety
is particularly adapted to the South, West,
or North, in other words, that these varieties

4 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

can, or cannot, withstand the long cold of
the North or the frosts (both early and
late), or they cannot stand the exces-
sive heat or sunlight of the South or mid-
South.

This adaptability is not surprising, since
we recognize such things as "plant associa-
tions" or "societies" in which a certain
group of plants live together under certain
conditions of climate, moisture and other
factors. And it has been found that by selec-
tion and breeding, or both, either natural
or artificial, it is possible to change the
requirements of a plant so that it is more
adapted to a condition of cold weather than
it is to hot weather, or vice versa; or it has
changed its characteristic choice for great
moisture to a liking for drier conditions; or
in some other way it has been so modified
that it can and does live under different
environment or surroundings than it re-
quired in earlier stages of its develop-
ment.

Applying this idea to strawberry plants
originating in the South: They can be
brought North, and in a few years their
descendants will be, or can be made to be,

SELECTION OF SITE 5

quite used to the conditions of the Northern
climate or other external factors.

SLOPE OR LEVEL

If there is a choice between a slight slope
and a level piece for the strawberry bed, it
is advisable to take the former. This must
not, however, be too sharp an incline, but
rather gentle or slight. The advantages
of such a selection will be better water
drainage and lessened frost injury, owing to
some air drainage. The disadvantages may
be some washing of the land, and therefore
loss of humus and soluble plant food.

The southern slope should always be
selected for early fruiting; but for late fruit-
ing, where the plants are held back until all
danger from frost is past, a northern slope
is best. This northern slope should, how-
ever, be somewhat protected in our Northern
States by either a tree, shrub, or building
windbreak; otherwise the plants will suffer
greatly from cold high winds.

One of the principal drawbacks to southern
exposures is the frequent freezing and thaw-
ing, especially of the honeycombed variety,
which causes heaving of the plants and

6 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

destroys great numbers yearly by breaking
the roots of the plant and leaving the plants
and some roots exposed to the sun. Owing
to the warmth of this location blossoms start
early and are sometimes killed by late frosts.

If there remains only a level place for the
bed, and it is not well drained, this may be
overcome by installing some proper drainage
system, such as a stone or tile drain. The
proper way of putting in a drainage system
is given in some of the books on soils or
on the physics of agriculture, and will not
be discussed here.

If this level place be situated lower than
the surrounding land, it is not advisable to
use it, owing to its being a settling ground
for heavy cold air, which means greater
liability to frosts. In fact, low lands are
the least desirable of all for a strawberry bed.

As a general rule we find that strawberries,
as a whole, are cosmopolitan as to the kind
of soil, whether it be clay, sand, or gravel.
We can find many varieties, such as Senator
Dunlap, Sample, and Bubach, that will pro-
duce good crops of fruit anywhere, and so
are considered by many as not limited as to
kind of soil, owing to their great success

SELECTION OF SITE 7

under all conditions of soil; but, coming to
a closer examination of the growth of the
plants and the largest yield of the largest
and best fruits, it is found that each variety
does have the peculiarity of doing better
in some one kind of soil than it does in
others. Thus, we find that Lady Thompson,
Stevens, and Clyde are more adapted to
sandy locations, while Wm. Belt, Parsons
Beauty, and Glen Mary require a heavier
soil, and Gaudy's largest crops are produced
on a heavy clay.

The ideal soil is a good, rich, humus-con-
taining loamy soil, which is well drained.

The one condition of soil on which it is
never advisable to plant strawberries is fresh-
ploughed old sod. Several reasons are back
of this : First, an air space between the sub-
soil and the turned or ploughed sod. This is
practically impossible to overcome, even after
several rollings and diskings. Second, the
large number of insects present, especially
the June bug lava, or commonly known
"white grub." This fellow eats off the
roots of the strawberry plants, killing large
areas which have been planted in sod.
Third, owing to the first reason, lack of

8 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

water in the topsoil, as there is a break be-
tween the topsoil and the subsoil and there-
fore a lack of rise of soil water. Even with
several waterings the plants are not saved
where there is a break in the capillarity.

The question then arises if the only
available place for strawberries is in sod,
how shall one go about in order to plant
strawberries the next spring? Fall ploughing
and not inverting the sod is the solution.
This kills the grubs, starts the decay or
breaking down of the sod, and gives a greater
chance for connection between the upper
soil and subsoil. The preparation before
planting, however, must be the most thor-
ough possible.

CHAPTER II
Manuring and Fitting

After the selection of the best available
site for the strawberry bed has been made
comes the immediate work of preparing the
land for planting.

The question would naturally arise : If the
grower was given either sandy or clayey soil,
just what line of work would suggest itself
as the best for the largest returns in crops
of fruit? If the individual has one or the
other kind of soil, and can apply stable
manure, or grow a crop to turn under, some of
the various results obtained from such appli-
cations would be expected — that is, by
adding stable manure or ploughing under a
crop of clover, rye or other crop (green
manuring), it is possible to improve the
texture or physical condition of the soil to
such an extent that the soil is able to hold
more water, more air, give the roots of the

lO MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

plants more feeding space, make it easier
for the roots to penetrate the soil, increase
the bacterial work of the soil, aid chemical
liberation, thereby causing more plant food
to become available, and many other helps
to larger and better crops. This then would
be the first step.

The second would be to crop the land for
a year or more with a crop such as corn,
potatoes, or beans the first year, and if pos-
sible the same the second year, adding a
cover crop for each fall and winter, being
sure that at the beginning of the third spring
there will be a good cover crop of some
legume, 'like clover, to turn under, following
this by thorough preparation of the land
and planting to strawberries. This method
would have so changed the original condi-
tions of the soil that it would be reasonable
to expect a good crop of fruit.

These principles herewith given are the
ideals as set forth for the most intensive
growing of strawberries, and they are the
methods in practice to-day by the majority
of the successful commercial strawberry
growers.

If the land is in fairly good tilth, and has

MANURING AND FITTING II

not required making over, the work of
manuring can begin at once.

MANURING

Many growers like to manure heavily in
the fall, applying from fifteen to eighteen
cords of stable manure to the acre, and
ploughing under, it being practically impos-
sible to apply too much manure. Through
the winter this manure has a chance to
break down somewhat and begin to, or is
ready to, decay when the first opening of
spring comes. There are other growers that
do not spread manure until after they have
ploughed the land in the spring, preferring to
disk in the manure, following this by a light
cross ploughing, thereby putting the manure
at the best depth for the strawberry roots.
Many of these growers claim that manure
ploughed under in the fall is placed too deep
for the use of the plant and therefore is not
so available for the current year's growth
of the plants-
It is also claimed that during the winter
there is some loss of the food from the manure
ploughed under. Some advise only eight or
ten cords of manure, supplementing this with

12 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

one or two applications of commercial
fertilizer, such as wood ashes and ground
bone, at the time of setting the plants, and
a little later about 300 pounds of wood
ashes and 500 pounds of ground bone being
used per acre. The latter method could
be used by the commercial grower to great
advantage, as it would save labour and might
be cheaper. For the intensive farmer and
small grower or fancier heavy applications
of stable manure would be most desirable
and would be found to be cheaper in the end.
The cost of manuring will figure out like this :

itt plan. 15 cords of manure at $2.50 per cord $37.00

, f 10 cords of manure at $2.50 per cord 25.00

< 300 ib. wood ashes at $16 per ton ) f 2.40

plan J - , , ^ r P*' *crc 1

{^Soo ID. ground bone at 9$2 per ton ) ( 8.00

$35.40

Ofttimes the manure can be obtained for
the handling, or is produced on the property
and in that case it is the most advisable and
economical to use.

PLOUGHING

In ploughing the land the grower must
first decide whether to plough in the fall or
in the spring.

MANURING AND FITTING I3

The advantages of fall ploughing are:

1. At this time of the year the grower
can do a better job and with less haste,
owing to there not being so much other work
demanding his time.

2. It has a tendency to start the decay
of vegetable matter in the soil.

3. Action of frost is very beneficial in
breaking down, and thereby fining the soil.

4. Kills many insects.

5. Enables the grower to start working
on the land earlier in the spring, as the soil
dries out more quickly.

6. Good time of year to turn under fresh
manure.

7. In some cases catches and holds large
amount of moisture.

The disadvantages are:

1. In certain places loss of soil by erosion.

2. In certain places loss of plant food by
erosion.

3. In certain places the soil becomes too
dry.

Contrasted with the above are the advan-
tages of spring ploughing:

I . Ploughing immediately followed by har-
rowing, then planting.

14 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

2. Thereby very little loss of soil moisture.

3. Permits a cover crop to winter on the
soil; stops erosion.

The jgeneral advice for the different soils
is : Plough a damp or clay soil in the fall
and if planting is to be done on sod; other-
wise spring ploughing is advisable, especially
where a cover crop is desired or where the
soil is sandy.

The question now arises, How shall the
ploughing be done.^ It is best to turn a fur-
row at least fourteen inches wide, and not
completely inverting the soil but having it
lap over a little on the preceding furrow
slice. It is also important that the soil
shall be plowed to a depth of seven inches
or more, or, in fact, to the subsoil. If the
topsoil is thinner than seven inches, then
it would be advisable to plough only a little
deeper than the topsoil.

The plough that is used must break up these
slices as much as possible and leave them
in as good a condition for harrowing as
possible. Other than the above, the plough-
ing must leave the best straight furrows, even,
well broken, and all ready for the harrow.

What kind of a plough will give these results ?

MANURING AND FITTING 1$

A plough that has a rather long point with a
well turned moldboard. In my experience
a good one is the Syracuse Landslide plough.
There are also many other ploughs that will
do as good a job.

HARROWING

When the spring opens and the soil is fit
to work, if the land has been fall ploughed,
harrowing can start. This consists of drag-
ging a pulverizing tool back and forth across
the field. The disk harrows are the best
tools for this purpose, and by using these,
lapping one half each time, the soil can be
put in very good condition for the finer
harrow. If the soil is inclined to be lumpy
or contains much clay or coarse fibre, it is
oftentimes advisable to cross lap disk, thus
breaking up these particles and leaving the
field in finer tilth.

Immediately after disking, use the common
spike tooth harrow or .spring tooth, set
shallow. This tool not only fines the earth
more than the disk, but has a tendency to
keep the land level. It is advisable to lap
the tool one third and cross lap harrow if
the soil is not in the required condition.

l6 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

By working with both disk and spike har-
rows, the soil is put in very fine, level tilth
and this fineness is carried to a greater depth.

BACK FURROWING

Oftentimes the grower wants his soil to
have even better preparation than the har-
rows are able to give, or he may desire to
lay oS his land in beds. The method used
in this case would be back furrowing, plough-
ing four inches deep, either by splitting the
piece in the middle and ploughing, by throwing
the furrows together, or by making several
small beds, by back furrowing in the middle
of a narrow strip, then starting another the
same way, leaving a dead furrow between
the beds.

While ploughing, the furrows are raked
down, thereby leaving a very even, well-
raked bed, having all the coarse material at
the bottom of the furrow, and the top four
inches in the very best possible condition
for plant growth.

Sometimes just before back furrowing,
which is generally cross ploughing, a good
layer of well-rotted manure is spread and
this four-inch ploughing is considered by

MANURING AND FITTING 1/

many growers to place the manure in the
most available spot for the growth of the
strawberry plants.

Level beds, with all the coarse material
well covered, tend to increase the efficiency
of labour, by making it possible to make
straighter rows and decreasing the time re-
quired for setting the plants, and make
cultivation and weeding easier and quicker.
They also improve the many soil factors,
improving the water-holding capacity, giving
more air, more bacterial activities, and other
beneficial results from more intensive culture.

ROLLING

Rolling after harrowing is used by soine
growers to enhance the capillarity activities,
thereby resulting in a more sure catch of
the roots of the plants. This rolling also
results in a more even, level surface,
which makes it easier and quicker for the
grower to mark out the rows for the
plants.

The best roller for this work, on average
strawberry soils, is the large wooden one.
The heavy iron roller packs the earth too
tightly, and, therefore, is not so desirable to

l8 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

use except on very sandy soils. On clay
soils use a planken

After a roller has been used and the plants
set, it is important that a soil mulch be
given; otherwise, great loss of water from
the soil will result.

CHAPTER III

Marking and Planting

There are many systems or methods of
marking out a strawberry bed. Much de-
pends on the system of planting which is
to be followed. If the plants are to be set in
rows four or five feet apart, it will be neces-
sary to have some form of marker that will
mark four or more rows at a time. One of
the best is that made of a piece of two by
three scantling, at least seventeen feet long.
For marking rows four feet apart, set in the
scantling every four feet, either short pieces
of a broom handle one and one half feet
long, or iron rods, with some arrangements
as to shafts if it is to be used for horsepower,
or two short shafts if it is to be run by man
power.

At the ends, or near the ends, a short piece
of wood (it might be well to allow the out-
side broom handles to extend above as well

20 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

as below) should extend above the scantling
to serve as handles by which the marker
is kept in place. This machine can be run
by three men or one horse and two men —
one man, or the horse, to draw it, one man
to keep one of the outside markers in the
line just previously made, and the other
man to drive and keep the machine running
parallel to the preceding lines. In starting
this machine it is best to begin on one side
of the bed, preferably the straighter, if
necessary laying out by line or with stakes
the first row; then, as the outside marker
always coincides with the previous row, it
is quite easy to keep each row straight and,
of course, the required distance apart.

Some growers prefer chains instead of
wood or iron bar markers. They are put
on the scantling in place of the broom handles
the required distances apart, in order to
mark the rows as wanted. The chief objec-
tion to chains is the fact that they sometimes
do not mark the rows an equal distance apart,
owing to their being dislodged or thrown
out of place by obstructions in the soil.

Sometimes the common garden line is
used very successfully, especially if the oper-

QUICK PLANTING

ng the plinu, the other

MARKING AND PLANTING 21

ator in planting does not touch it. Many-
times, however, the operator varies the line
by pushing the trowel or spade against it
until the planted rows bow out when the
line is released.

On small beds, where the plants are set
one foot apart, a small hand marker, some-
what similar to the large marker previously-
described, can be used quite successfully,
providing the operator has something like
the garden line to go by. If this bed is to be
check rowed, the same tool can be used,
or if the planter has a sure eye for distances
the plants can be set without cross marking.

One of the most common methods of
marking out a bed is that of ploughing fur-
rows four to six inches deep where the rows
of strawberries are to be, the plants being
set on the land side of the furrow.

Some of the objections to this method are:

1. Inability to make straight rows.

2. Breaks up the level bed, making it
rough.

3. Not an intensive method.

4. Labour of filling in furrow.

5. Plants liable to dry out.

6. Hard to place plants at the best depth.

22 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

The advantages are:

1. Quickness of opening furrow for plant-
ing.

2. Quickness of setting plants, it being
necessary only to set the plant against the
straight edge of the furrow, and place soil
around and on the roots.

3. Ease of watering plants after being set.
4* Cheapness of setting.

5. Best method for matted row culture
where the planter is short handed.

RECEIVING PLANTS

As soon as the plants arrive at the station,
get them at once, take them home, unpack
the box without delay, and, if you do not
immediately plant, dig a shallow trench and
place the plants in this. Be sure that the
bundles are untied; be sure that the soil is
moist and packed firmly around the roots.
If there is any trouble with the plants, such
as mould, or the plants are of poor quality,
notify the dealer at once, writing exactly the
trouble, and make a settlement with him.

Notice the roots of plants you buy. If
they are black or dark coloured, better not

MARKING AND PLANTING 23

take the plants, as they are old. The best
plants have light yellow, sometimes light
brange coloured roots, which denote that
the plant is young. If there is a good, well-
developed root system, so much the better.
The leaves should be light green, fresh
and new looking.

PLANTING

If the grower has used the furrow method
of marking out his strawberry bed there will
be very few tools needed to set the plants.
Some growers use a trowel to place the earth
around the plant, but for quickness and
efficiency of labour there is not a tool that
will equal the hand for this work. Follow-
ing this placing of the soil around the roots
of the plant, use the feet or the knees to firm
the soil. However, there is quite a large
amount of soil to replace in the furrow, and
this can best be done by horse tools, such as
the five or seven shovel toothed cultivator.
Almost every farm has these tools, so the
beginner would be put to no extra expense
for tools by following this method.

The best tool to use in the case of planting
to the mark or line is the ordinary garden

24 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

spade. By this method two men or two
men and a boy are needed. In the case of
the two men, one uses the spade, thrusting
it into the soil at the required distances
apart, pushing the handle forward a little,
thereby making openings in which the other
man can place the roots of the strawberry
plants, being sure to spread them as much
as possible. The spade is then placed in
front of the plant and pushed into the ground
and the blade drawn back, forcing the soil
tightly against the roots of the plant; or the
heel is placed near the plant to force the soil
tightly against the roots. The man who
sets the plants in the ground must prepare
them if it has not previously been done,
by pruning the roots back so that they will
be able quickly and easily to start growth;
also the leaves must be pruned. If you
prune the roots, be fair to the top and prune
back all the leaves but one (this should be
the last one produced by the plant), and the
growing point. The planter must also carry
the basket of plants or the pail of plants, if a
boy is not employed to prepare and drop the
plants.
The best results in planting are sometimes

MARKING AND PLANTING 25

brought about by keeping the plants, while
they are being carried about in the field,
with their roots submerged in water.

The proper depth to set the crown is an-
other point that the man who sets the plants
in the soil must be very careful about.

Sometimes the crown (that part of the
plant where the leaves and roots start)
is planted so deep that the growing point is
not able to push its way through the soil;
the plant lives for a while and then dies.
Again the crown is not set deep enough and
some of the roots are exposed. In this case
the plant lops over, the exposed roots dry
out, and the plant dies.

Now, since the above is so, the question is,
"Just what depth is correct in setting straw-
berry plants?"

It has been found that the proper well-set
plant is one that has all of its roots and the
lower part of the crown covered with soil;
or, in other words, the top of the crown should
be a little above the level of the ground.
This enables the growing point to develop
without hindrance, and prevents the drying
out of the roots from exposure. The results
will be quick, satisfactory growth.

26 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

The plants can be set with a hand trowel
in place of the spade. At the proper point
on the mark or under the line, the trowel is
pushed into the soil and the handle is brought
forward and sideways, making a hole four to
six inches long and deep, and about an inch
wide at the top; the plant is laid flat on the
ground with the top of the roots near the
crown over the hole. Then using the edge
of the hand the roots are pushed down
into the hole and are well spread; the plant
is then held at the correct depth with one
hand and with the other hand the trowel,
back toward the plant, is thrust into the soil
about two inches from the plant followed by
a quick motion on the trowel toward the
plant. The earth is firmed around the plant.
Following this the operator can step on the
soil, firming it more thoroughly, but this is
not necessary. The next plant is then set,
and so on.

There is still another method which is
sometimes used on the home grounds or in
small beds. This consists of removing the
plant from the propagating bed with the
greatest amount of roots, and a large lump of
soil. The tool used consists of a round piece

MARKING AND PLANTING ^^

of galvanized iron or steel, about four inches
in diameter and six inches deep, with a
handle about two feet long, consisting of two
pieces of iron joined at the top and attached
to the round piece on opposite sides. In
using this tool, it is placed over the plant,
having the plant in the centre, the foot or
hands press the instrument into the soil,
cutting a round piece of soil the size of the
tool. By canting the tool a little the plant
and soil can be removed and at once set in
the bed where wanted. Of course there
must be a hole a little larger than the trans-
planted soil and plant requires, and the
plant must be set with regard to proper
depth.
The advantages of this method are:

1. Does not require root or leaf prun-
ing.

2. Has a tendency not to check the growth
of the plant.

3. Sure success in transplanting.
The disadvantages are:

1. Extra cost of labour in transplanting, as
the method is a slow one.

2. Not of value commercially, owing to
extra cost as above.

28 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

3. Cannot be used if grower has to buy
plants.

WHEN TO SET THE PLANTS

There are several considerations which
govern the time and manner of setting straw-
berry plants. The time to plant depends in
humid regions more upon the rainfall than
upon any other factor. If the seasonal rains
occur in July and August, plant then; if in
September and pctober, plant at that time.
If the earlier date can be taken advantage of,
so much the better; the plants will have a
longer period in which to grow, and they will
be stronger and the crop heavier in conse-
quence.

If there are not timely rains at the plant-
ing season to give the plants an opportunity
to establish themselves, the stand will be
uneven, with the result that more work will
be required to keep the land free from weeds,
and it will be more trouble to get the blank
spaces occupied by runners from the plants
that survive.

The plants that do withstand the drought
are checked and dwarfed. They seldom
recover so as to make either satisfactory

i 'i

ill

3 f"

MARKING AND PLANTING 29

croppers or plant producers. It is most satis-
factory and economical, therefore, to choose
that season which offers most advantages at
planting time, other things being equaL

It is impossible to specify the season for
each locality or even for large areas, as
conditions of soil and climate necessitate dif-
ferent practices in localities only a short
distance apart. In general there are only two
seasons for planting, spring and fall, but in
some localities spring planting should be
done in April or May by the use of the pre-
ceding season's plants, while in others it may
be done in June from the crop of runners of
the same season.

In irrigated regions planting can be done
at whatever season the work will give best
results in future crop production. In humid
regions rainfall is the determining factor.
In the northern half of the prairie region
west of the Mississippi, spring planting gives
best results. In the Middle Atlantic States,
the work is divided between spring and
August planting, with the balance in favour
of the latter in some localities. In New
England, the work is chiefly confined to the
spring months, although there are enthusi-

30 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

astic advocates of fall planting, especially
among those who combine strawberry grow-
ing with the trucking business on expensive
lands near the large cities.

In the Atlantic Coast States south of New
York, August and September planting is
most extensively practised, particularly upon
the more retentive soils. In the trucking
region on the islands about Charleston, S. C,
spring planting is practised, as it results in
a .paying crop the following year, while
only a small crop can be harvested from fall-
set plants. On these quick soils, the plant
can be grown as an annual; and farther
south, in Georgia and Florida, the fall-set
plants will return a profitable crop the fol-
lowing spring. On the heavier soils of South
Carolina, however, fall planting, with the
paying crop one year from the following
spring, is the most profitable method.

WATERING

After the plants are properly set it is
often necessary to water them, particularly if
the soil is quite dry when the plants are set.
This may be done by using watering pots,
by the use of a spray machine, by irrigation

MARKING AND PLANTING 3 1

both overhead and by trenches, or, on the
home acre, by using the hose.

It does not seem best at this point to go
into the process of irrigation, it being deemed
only necessary to say that enough water
should be applied so that it will thoroughly
moisten the roots of the plant, and by so doing
help to make more points of contact between
the soil particles and the roots.

This first watering is often helped by the
proper removal of the leaves when the plants
are set, thereby decreasing transpiration,
(the amount of water the plants throw off),
and resulting in a lessening demand of the
plant for water.

SYSTEMS OF PLANTING

The matted row. — The most common sys-
tem of strawberry growing throughout the
United States is the matted row system.
This is particularly popular where berries
are sent to the canneries, on large commercial
plantations, and where farm labour is scarce
or not reliable. The reason for this is be-
cause less labour is required in setting and
caring for the plants, and the crop of fruit
is larger.

32 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

After the plants are set in rows which are
three to three and a half feet apart, with the
plants from eighteen to thirty inches apart in
the row, the runners are allowed to have full
swing and develop as many plants as they
will

In cultivating, the machine is only run in
one direction, and as the plants spread the
cultivated space narrows until twelve or
fifteen inches at its greatest width.

The greatest drawback to this system is
that many great plant-producing straw-
berries are allowed to set their plants too
close together, resulting in a somewhat smaller
crop and quite small fruit, which of course
will not bring the highest price in the market,
and also costing more in time and money to
pick* Careful attention to the proper thin-
ning of the plants in too heavily set matted
rows will obviate this drawback.

Single-hedge row. — This method is quite
well adapted to a more intensive system of
strawberry growing. The main idea is to
set out the plants in rows two to three feet
apart, the plants being twenty to thirty
inches apart in the row. Each plant is
allowed to produce two runners, and one

MARKING AND PLANTING 33

plant is produced on each runner. Other
runners are clipped off as soon as they are
produced.

These two new plants are trained to grow
in the row of older plants, being likened to the
method of setting a row of plants, each plant
being one foot distant from its neighbour in
the row, and allowing no runners to grow.

The great advantages of this system are:
larger developed plants, tending to larger
fruit; ease of cultivation, but more expensive,
owing to the fact that runners must be cut,
and during the growing season strict atten-
tion must be given.

Double-hedge rows. — A system which is a
development of the single-hedge row idea,
in which the mother plant is allowed to set
either four or six plants instead of but two.
These plants are trained to form three rows,
one being in line with the older plants and a
row each side of the mother plant row, each
plant having a certain allotted space, which
permits ease in hoeing and cultivation, also
eliminates crowding, permitting plenty of
sunlight and air to reach each plant and
giving a heavier crop of large berries than in
the single-hedge row.

34 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

The plants are set thirty inches apart in
the row, the rows three feet apart, allowing,
when the plants are grown, about one half
the space for the plants and one half for
clean culture.

The hill system. — The most intensive sys-
tem of strawberry growing, in which the
plants are set from one foot apart each way,
to one foot apart in rows eighteen inches to
thirty inches apart, the plan being not to
allow any runners or new plants to set, but
permitting the plants to grow to great size,
believing that more and larger fruit of better
quality will result.

A very good application of this system is
that carried on by a grower in New Jersey.
His beds are marked out four feet apart, with a
path between the beds one foot nine and three
fourth inches wide. These beds are of any
length desired. The plants are set out one
foot apart each way in the four-foot beds.
By planting at the edge of the bed, near the
path, there will be five rows of plants across
each bed. The number of plants required
for an acre is 33,795 or 1,940 plants for
a space 25 by 100 feet. His results have
been wonderfully great. His method has been

MARKING AND PLANTING 35

highly recommended by many who have in-
vestigated.

This system, being so very "intense,"
requires heavy manuring and fertilizing, as
well as constant cultivation and attention
to runner cutting. The plants are very large,
are well supplied with blossoms in the fruit-
ing season, and are loaded with fruit later.

A plan somewhat similar to this hill
system was used in England many years ago,
the plants being hilled instead of grown under
flat culture, and no runners allowed to form.
This system is particularly adapted to the
small grower, especially if the land is high
priced. It cannot be used to advantage by
the large commercial grower owing to the
great amount of labour required, resulting in
heavier expense.

COMPANION OR INTER-CROPPING

The strawberry is a fine plant to use at
the time of setting out a young orchard.
Strawberries can be planted between the
rows of trees and thereby give returns to
the grower long before the trees could pos-
sibly produce any. The strawberry is con-
sidered by some people to be the very best

36 MODERN STRAWBER&T GROWING

crop for inter-planting in an orchard for the
following reasons;

1. It does not rob the trees of plant food.

2. It does not rob the trees of sunlight.

3. It requires good cultivation; the trees
are benefited by this thorough working of the
land.

4. It requires fertilizing or manuring.

5. Strawberries require some attention.
At the same time the grower becomes ac-
quainted with the trees.

HOW MUCH TO PLANT

From twenty-five to one hundred plants
well cared for will answer for the majority of
families who have but small space to give
to growing and little time to caring for the
plants.

The majority of farmers, owing to the
possibility that labour will be scarce during
weeding time, or the hens getting out, or
some other cause, require a larger bed.
About 100 to 250 plants, well set, will give
returns enough for the farmer's family.
This of course may be regulated by the size
of the family and the attention given to the
bed.

i
I

111

III

MARKING AND PLANTING yj

In the case of the specialist, some would do
better on less acreage better cared for, while
others have no limit to the size of the plan-
tation they can handle profitably.

Some of the factors that the specialist
must bear in mind are:

1. His own ability as plant producer, fruit
grower and business man.

2. Adaptability of his land to strawberry
growing. '

3. Markets catered to, demands of the
same as to berry packing, package, season,
etc.

4. Advisability of advertising, etc.

It is advisable for all three classes of
growers to start slowly with a few varieties^
building up as the demand warrants. After
a few years' test on a small plot of some of
the newer and more promising varieties, in-
troduce the best and cater strictly to the
largest money getter.

CHAPTER IV

After Care — Fertilizers

It is hardly possible to make the soil too
rich for strawberries. Hence it is desirable
that available plant food should be present
to meet all the requirements of the plants,
particularly with the mineral element phos-
phoric acid, both soluble and available.

There are several ways and materials by
which it is possible to supply this food de-
mand. Coarse manures, turned under very
early and thoroughly incorporated with the
soil, will begin to decompose before setting
time, the foods thereby being in some supply
at this time. Cover crops, or rops grown
particularly for green manuring, will also
serve the same purpose as coarse manure; in
fact, where a supply of the latter material
is not available, the green manuring will
satisfactorily take the place of the other
material, especially if the deficiencies in

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 39

plant food required are made up by minerals,
such as nitrate of soda, acid phosphate and
muriate of potash.

The statement is often made that well-
rotted manure, thoroughly worked into the
soil, is the best fertilizer. This is quite true
in the majority of cases, especially where an
abundance of the material is used.

Why is this so?

I. Manure contains a large amount of
vegetable material, sometimes called humus,
which improves the physical conditions of
the soil by:

(a) By making a clay soil less compact,
resulting in a more open and porous soil.

(b)By making a sandy soil less leachy and
porous.

(d) By permitting ease of root growth.
(^) By giving the roots greater feeding

surface.

(0 By increasing the activities of the soil,
thereby increasing the available plant food,
etc.

Oftentimes, from lack of humus, low

40 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

yields result. This is especially so in dry
seasons.

2. Manures contain a fair amount of
plant food which on being decomposed is
available to the plants, nitrogen being the
predominating element. It has the draw-
back though of not containing a balanced
food ration. This may, however, be reme-
died by supplying the deficient elements
with a subsequent application of artificial
fertilizers.

As reconmiended elsewhere, 1 8 to 20 tons
of manure, spread on the soil and thoroughly
worked in, is sufficient for the crop the first
year, although some growers use as high as
forty tons to the acre. By carefully watch-
ing the plants, any lack of growth by them
can be overcome by applications, on an acre
basis, of 100 to 300 pounds of nitrate of soda,
200 to 300 pounds of muriate of potash or
400 to 500 pounds of acid phosphate, or in
combination about 300 to 400 pounds of
the mixture being used per acre. It is
much better to give the plants two or three
small doses than one large dose. Nitrogen
is a great growth stimulator making the
plants rank and green. Caution: Too

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 4I

much nitrogen may result in excessive growth
rather than fruit. Potash will give a stocky,
compact growth, and phosphoric acid with
potash has a tendency to eariiness in pro-
duction, solidity coupled with quality and
colour of the fruit.

If barnyard manure be used as a mulch the
first year, during the fall, winter, and early
spring, it will be sufficient for the crop in the

second year. Of course the major part of
the coarse material of the manure, such as
long straw, weeds or hay, will be removed in
the spring, allowing the finer parts to come
into close contact with the moist soil.

Knowing that the preparation period of
growth of the strawberry before bearing is
but one year, and that getting a large crop
of good size and good quality fruits depends
upon the acquired strength, growth, and
vigour of the plant during this priod, it is
highly important that all the surrounding
conditions should be of the very best.

This being true, and the fact that stable
manure for one reason or another is out of the
question, what can be done to obtain a maxi-
mum crop of fruit? Many writers advise
applications of chemicals without any re-

42 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

gard to the condition of the soil, but that is
not wise. They would find it out too, if they
held the plough or set the plants, or in some
other way carried on the practical growing of
the fruit.

The condition of the land must be taken
into consideration. If it be in a fair state of
fertility, as shown by its production of a fair
crop of potatoes or com the season just pre-
vious, then fertilizer could be used to advan-
tage. It would not, however, be advisable
to plant on land on which for several years
fertilizer alone had been used, nor even on
renovated pasture land not manured. The
best land is that which not more than two
or three years previous produced a good sod.
This would result in there being humus in
the soil, which spells good physical condition
of the soiL

With a proper soil chemicals alone can be
used, sowing broadcast and harrowing in,
just before setting the plants, about 1,500
to 2,000 pounds to the acre of the following
mixture:

150 pounds Nitrate of aoda ) v:»«w.^ « «<y

600 pound. Tankage [ ^»*««« *-9%

800 pounds Add phosphate Phosphoii^ add 94%

450 pounds Muriate of potash Potash 10.7%

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 43

or as recommended by the New Hampshire
Experiment Station.

100 pounds Nitrate of soda ) xt*^ ^ »m

SCO pound. Tankage f Nitrogen *.s%

iooo pounds Acid phosphate Phosphoric add 10%

400 pounds Muriate of potash Potash 10%

Follow this with an application of a mix-
ture strong in nitrogen and phosphoric acid
at the rate of 300 to 500 pounds per acre, ap-
plied along the row during the end of June or
beginning of July. This application should
be made only in case the runners are few or
lacking in size. Many growers use two or
three applications of nitrate of soda through
the summer at the rate of 100 pounds to
150 pounds per acre each time.
• In the spring of the second year apply
600 to 1,000 pounds of the first mixture,
especially if the plants need stimulation
because of winter injury or otherwise. Some-
times 100 to 150 pounds of nitrate is all that
is required to increase the size of the fruit.
This nitrate is applied at the time of the
petals falling, spread in the row.

Do not apply fertilizers when the leaves are
wet, nor leave the fertilizer so that it will re-
main on the leaves, becoming moist, even dis-

44 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

solved, during the night, which would result
in leaf injury, called burning. A little time
spent lightly brushing the leaves in the rows
after the application of fertilizer may save
many dollars for the grower.

There are many ways by which artificial
fertilizer may be applied. The most common
being by hand from a pail carried in the crook
of the arm. Swing the hand and arm as for
sowing seed broadcast, experience being the
best teacher, if it is desired to find out just
how to apply and how much per acre.
Either the one or two horse machine fertili-
zer spreader does very good work, and can be
used if the acreage is so large that hand dis-
tributing is impracticable.

CULTIVATION

"Tillage is manure." Although not lit-
erally true, it comes very near being so.
How great an influence tillage has in the
production of large crops of any kind!

Successful strawberry plants cannot be
obtained without good tillage, and without
good thrifty plants how is it possible to pro-
duce large crops of the best berries? Now
what is good tillage in strawberry culture?

5 1 =

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 45

We have learned that the roots of straw^
berries are not very large nor numerous, that
they do not extend far into the soil, but are
relatively surface feeders. It would there-
fore be advisable to cultivate shallow so as
not to injure these tender roots.

It is also known that the plant in its
growth uses large amounts of water to dis-
solve the food in the soil. This then is
taken in by the roots and finally passed oS
in the air by the process of transpiration of
the leaves. Each pound of dry material
of the plant would then be obtained at the
expense of many pounds of water. From
this fact conservation of moisture in the soil
is very important. This may be accom-
plished by cultivating thoroughly the entire
surface of the soil, leaving a dust blanket
to stop the evaporation of water from the
soil.

Another point of interest in cultivation is
the mechanical effect of grinding the soil,
thereby breaking it up into smaller pieces.
This may be -easily understood when we
consider how nature breaks up the larger
rocks by the action of rubbing one on the
other in the many streams or bodies of water.

46 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

reducing them finally to very small particles.
These small pieces again are found to be
more easily dissolved or some part of them
in the soil water, thereby increasing the avail-
able plant food of the soiL

In a very dry summer good tillage, with
its blanket soil-mulch, conserves moisture,
thereby helping to counterbalance the great
evil of drought, resulting year after year in
more even crops.

Cultivation also ojBFers more opportunity
for rains to enter the soil, owing to the more
open texture of the soil, and if tillage is
practised very soon after the rain the soil
crust will be broken, and the moisture con-
served. It is, however, highly important
that the tillage be level, as there is less soil
exposed, therefore less drying out

These are not the only benefits of tillage;
large quantities of weeds are destroyed
annually by good cultivation. It is quite
easy to control weeds if work is begun before
they are more than an inch or two high,
as the roots of the weeds are shallow at
this stage and the growth tender. If the
weeds are allowed to grow for some little
time, competition between them and the

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS \^

Strawberry plants is so great that the latter
suffer by being robbed of sunlight, space,
and food.

Weeds are a godsend to man, as they com-
pel him to cultivate his land, thereby helping
him to harvest larger crops.

TOOLS

The one-horse eleven-toothed cultivator,
the teeth of which are small, is one of the
best tools to use in cultivating the straw-
berry bed. By its lever to regulate the depth
the teeth can be run quite shallow, and with
the other lever, the machine can be opened
or made narrower to suit the convenience of
the operator. Its leaving the bed so level,
the soil so fine, and its ability to run quite
close to the plant without injury or covering
are some of the chief advantages of this
machine. If the grower uses the hand hoe in
the rows of plants, the bed can be kept in the
very best of tilth with these two tools alone.

For small beds, or for very narrow rows
such as are formed when planting by the
hill system, a man power wheel-hoe or culti-
vator like the Planet, Jr., Iron Age, Columbia
etc., which sells for about ^4.50, is very

48 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

advisable. This small machine does very
good work and is a great labour saver.

There are many other tools for cultiva-
tion, such as riding cultivators, walking
cultivators, many hoes, etc., but for the very
best work the ones previously mentioned,
from the practical side are superior, because
they (i) are easy working tools, of light draft;
(2) can be used very close to plants without
injury; (3) leave the soil level and in fine
particles, making the best dust blanket; (4)
are shallow cultivating tools.

HOW OFTEN TO CULTIVATE?

Many rules or suggestions are given in
answer to the question. How often to culti-
vate? It would seem that the frequency of
cultivation would depend on the amount and
time of the rainfall. Good advice is: "as
soon as possible after every rain."

But what if it does not rain for a long
period? It is best in this case to cultivate
every ten days or two weeks, as the mechan-
ical influence on the soil as well as the making
sure that the mulch is working properly
will help to offset the expense of cultivation.
Continue this cultivation from the earliest

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 49

possible moment in the case of new beds, up
to the close of the season in the fall, as it ia
important to keep the plants growing.

In the case of old beds, cultivation be-
gins after fruiting and continues through the
remainder of the season.

CUTTING RUNNERS

Runners have to be cut in many of the
systems of management. This is done with
a sharp hoe, spud, wheeled disk runner cut-
ter, or some other sharp tool. The tool
used depending upon the labour or time
which can be devoted to this work.

It is necessary to go over the beds where
runners are to be cut every few days and all
surplus runners removed. The less growth
the runners make before being cut off, the
less food, water, etc., they take from the
mother plant, giving the latter plant more
opportunity for increased development of
itself.

IRRIGATION

A careful search into the history of the
agriculture of various countries of the
world shows that irrigation is and has been

50 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

carried on to a great extent in the growing
and maturing of many crops.

Some of the methods used by these various
countries would be called crude by Americans,
but we find even so that the systems were
very practical under their conditions.

What are some of the reasons why irri-
gation is so important?

1. Water gives more than half of the
materials which make up the dry matter of
plants.

2. Water constitutes from 50 to 90 per
cent, of the weight of plants in their green
stage.

3. Soil organisms depend for their normal
activity on the correct amount of soil mois-
tures; otherwise they do not work so fast.

4. Root hairs only absorb moisture
through the soil. In this moisture is dis-
solved plant-food, therefore without mois-
ture there is no absorption, resulting in lack
of growth and death.

5. With a lack of rain in the spring, fer-
tilizer is of little avail, owing to being not
dissolved; irrigation makes this fertilizer
available.

.After these reasons are carefully taken into

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS S'

consideration, it is seen that lack of moisture
at the proper time is very detrimental to
plant growth.

What help can we expect from tillage to
overcome these conditions? As to adding
water to the soil by careful tillage, it has not
been demonstrated that it is possible to do
so. Tillage's main help is in retaining in the
soil water which falls as rain, holding it
there until the roots of the plant take it up.
Tillage cannot in any way reduce the amount
of water, which is lost by the process of tran-
spiration through the plant. It cannot be
expected that the largest crops will grow
without water, or that tillage alone can take
the place of water. With sufficient water
in the soil, it is possible, by good tillage,
to obtain the heaviest crops nevertheless.
If there is a deficiency of rain, nothing
short of irrigation will produce a large
crop.

It has been mentioned that the straw-
berry is a very shallow feeder, and from this
it is very easy to see that in droughty springs
or summers, if the plants are not irrigated,
the resultant crop will suffer greatly. This
fact has been quite well brought out by ex-

52 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

periments conducted by Professor Goff of
Wisconsin :

In 1894, irrigated acre yield was 214.6 bushels; in
1895 irrigated acre yield was 279.9 bushels; mean yield,
243.8 bushels.

In 1894 the non-irrigated yield was 109.3 bushels; in
1895 the non-irrigated yield was 32.3 bushels; mean
3deld^ 70.8 bushels.

This showed a difference in their mean
yield of 173 bushels in favour of the irrigated
patch. Not only was there a larger yield,
but the quality of the fruit was improved,
and the berry being larger was more salable.

When irrigation is to be practised there
are several points which determine how
much water should be applied at each time.

1. How dry the soil is. The drier the
soil the more water is needed to thoroughly
moisten it.

2. Whether or not the soil is leachy, or
otherwise unable to conserve water. Leachy
soil requires irrigation more often.

3« Whether or not the feeding surface for
the roots is shallow or deep. The deeper and
the finer the soil texture the more moisture
it is capable of holding.

4. The amount and rate of the movement

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 53

of soil water called "capillarity." If there
is a good definite movement of sufficient
water from the subsoil to the topsoil, irri-
gation is not necessary.

5. The amount of loss by evaporation of
the water from the soil and the rate of loss
by transpiration from the crop. The greater
the loss in both cases the greater the need for
irrigation and vice versa.

In terms of water : if one quarter of a cubic
foot of water per second be applied to an acre
of ground for about eight hours, it will have
covered the surface of this acre to the depth
of about two inches. If this application is re-
peated once in ten days for five irrigations it
will be equal to about ten inches of rain in
fifty days. This will be quite above the nor-
mal rainfall, and from results obtained will
fulfil the objects of irrigation.

SYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION

Flooding. — This particular system is very
little practised in strawberry culture, but
might be advantageously used in extreme
cases where a large amount of water was
needed at once. It consists of building a
bank or furrow around the bed of straw-

54 MODERN STRAWBER&T GROWING

berries, causing the water to cover the ground
completely, either pumping in the water at
some convenient place, or damming up a
convenient brcx>k or streanu

Furrows. — It is a very common practice
in the West or mid-West to lay out a straw-
berry field in such a way that water from large
main irrigation ditches can be brought on the
field and led only in the alternate rows of
strawberries (because the rows between must
be firm ground for the pickers) in deep, broad
furrows, holding the water in these trenches
until it has spread considerably in a lateral
direction. It is not possible, in these
droughty sections, without this or some other
method, to place enough water at fruit time
within reach of the roots so that irrigation
would be unnecessary. The chief objection
to this method is the fact that it is not eco-
nomical of water. This would be quite a fac-
tor if the water were bought by the gallon.

SiUh-irrigatum. — As its name implies,
something below. Where this method is
used lines of tile or perforated pipe of vary-
ing sizes and lengths are laid below the sur-
face, generally one or more large mains with
many smaller laterals, sometimes the mains

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 55

being at the edge of the strawberry patch and
the laterals laid beneath each matted row of
strawberries. More often the main is laid with
laterals every ten or twenty feet apart without
regard to the crop planted on the soil.
The advantages of this system are:

1. As the water comes from below up it is
a great deal like capillarity, sometimes
spoken of as an ideal method.

2. Compared to the furrow, it is less ex-
pensive, as once installed it will last for years,
as it does not require moving of the soil each
year.

3. Does away with any obstruction in the
field, everything being below ground. Its
greatest advantage.

4. Earth mulches once given, are not de-
stroyed by this method.

Following are the disadvantages:

1. Water does not spread laterally from
these pipes sufficiently, so it is difficult to
give the crop enough water.

2. Owing to above, in order to force water
laterally, more water is needed than by the
furrow method.

3. Where cost of water is high it would
therefore be too .expensive.

56 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

4. Tile costs about $90 per acre, where
they are laid in rows five feet apart, and in
good digging not less than $20 per acre is
required to lay the same; therefore too ex-
pensive.

5. Rains fall from above and soak into the
soil, drawing air down into the soil, causing
the soil to be aerated. Sub-irrigation lessens
this process as the water does not draw so
much air into the soil.

Overhead system. — To date, this may be
called the best system as it has many of the
advantages of the former methods and more
advantages of its own. It is very economi-
cal of labour and water, resulting in great
savings where these two items are costly.

The Skinner system is typical of this
method, and was first used by the inventor
in the spring of 1897, and has been in con-
tinuous operation since. It was first given
to the public in 1904,

The system consists of parallel lines of pipe,
in which are inserted especially devised
nozzles, located in the pipe at distances ap-
proximately four feet apart. The nozzle lines
are from forty to sixty feet apart, depending
upon the local conditions. The water is

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 57

distributed in a manner which insures abso-
lute uniformity, which covers every square
inch of the soil, and is under control of
the operator. A turning device enables the
operator, by one movement, and without
leaving the power house, to control the dis-
tribution of the water on a large acreage.

Besides giving water for the growing crop
it also affords protection against frost. It
should be noted, however, that it is practi-
cally useless to apply the water after the plant
has been frozen or touched with frost. The
pipes must be kept moving so that the water
is applied on a given place at intervals of
not to exceed two minutes' duration. The
sprinkling should be begun previous to the
frost and continued throughout the night
until the temperature rises above the danger
point.

It may seem incongruous that a plant can
be protected from the frost and at the same
time be covered with ice, but this is neverthe-
' less true. Water in freezing parts with as
much heat as in dropping from XX2 to 32
degrees. With the Skinner system, in seven
hours and with a pressure of thirty pounds,
there can be applied on a ten-acre plot one

58 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

and one half tons of water every minute.
This furnishes abundant protection.

Uniformity of distribution is also gained,
which is second only in importance to the
requirement of applying water. The soil
can be watered to any degree of dampness
without any uncertainty or irregularity.

It has been the common belief that water
upon the foliage of the plant is injurious to it,
both because of a possible tendency to fun-
gous growth and also because of the action of
the sun's rays. This is contrary to the fact
that the most luxuriant foliage is to be found
in the hot, moisture-laden atmosphere of the
torrid zone.

Exhaustive experiments have proved the
common belief to be in error and have shown
that the tendency to fungous growth is due,
not to the application of water on the foliage,
but to the bruised condition and injured tex-
ture of the plant, caused by improper appli-
cation of water. They have also proved that
the action of the sun is not injurious to the
moisture-laden foliage, but that moisture on
the surface of the soil will, under the sun's
rays, injure the growth.

The cost of installation of this system is

AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 59

less than that of any other irrigation system,
which might be considered. The cost of a
field equipment varies with each particular
installation, ranging from $90 to $150 per
acre; however, the usual cost for this equip-
ment lies between $xoo and $125 per acre.
This figure does not include the pumping
plant, the cost of which, together with the
cost of the mains leading to the field, should
be added.

The investment is permanent, and the life
of the system is limited only by the life of the
pipe used to conduct the water. Owing to
the fact that this system can be operated
with less pressure and with less water waste
than any other known system of this form of
irrigation^ the cost of installing a pumping
plant is reduced to a minimum. It may be
added also that fertilizers and fungicides in
solution may also be distributed through
these pipes under certain circumstances.

CHAPTER V

Insects, Diseases, and Spraying

Several years ago spraying was not
considered necessary for the production
of a large crop of good quality, but with the
increase in the acreage and the multiplication
of varieties, the insects and diseases have
become so troublesome that in very many
places where strawberries are grown it is
highly important that spraying and other
advanced methods should be carried on
in order to grow this crop successfully.

With the demand for knowledge concerning
these insects and diseases among the growers,
more and closer study of this valuable fruit
has been forced on experimenters and
students throughout the country, as well as
upon the manufacturers of spraying machines
who try somewhat to cater to the needs of
the growers and students. There is, however,
room for improvement along these lines.

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 6 1

The most important thing to know before
spraying is, what we are spraying for. To
this end it is necessary to have some idea of
the many enemies, both insects and fungi,
which prey upon the strawberry.

It is, however, quite important that
spraying begin quite early and continue
as long as needed throughout the season.
It is easier to check or control enemies when
they first begin to be troublesome in the
early spring than it is to try to overcome or
subdue them after they have become estal>
lished. In fact, with some insects and
diseases it is very hard work, if not next
to impossible, to do much to stop their
ravages after once they have a good start.
The more important pests are described
below :

INSECTS

Root eaters. — There are at least three
species of beetle which in the larval or grub
stage live in the ground and feed upon
the fibrous roots of the strawberry plants.
As their life history and description are so
nearly alike, they can all be called white grubs
or June bug larvae. These grubs are so

62 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

common throughout the United States that
they need no introduction. They are particu-
larly abundant in grasslands, both meadows
and pastures, owing to the fact that their
principal food is the roots of grass, weeds>
and herbs. These insects destroy practi-
cally every strawberry plant almost as soon
as it is set, if sod ground is used for grow-
iag strawberries.

When the grubs have become full-grown,
they have a rest period or pupal stage in
which they encase themselves in earthen
cells in the soil. After a certain lapse of
time they come out as small beetles and feed
upon the foliage of the plants, sometimes
doing considerable damage.

The remedy for the insects in the larval
stage is to fall plough sod land, following this
by one or more years of crops that require
good tillage. In the case of the strawberry
beds being affected, it would be very difficult
to deal with the grubs on account of their
underground habits. If badly affected it
would be better to plough up. Breeding
grounds, such as old strawberry beds, should
not be allowed to remain.

Crown eaters. — Several different insects

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 63

attack the crown of the strawberry, the crown
miner being one of the more important. This
is a small, reddish caterpillar that constructs
or bores irregular passages through the crowns
of the plants. No successful remedy has thus
far been brought forth. Fields badly infested
should be ploughed up.

Another crown borer is the common white,
footless, yellow-headed grub, so destructive
in the strawberry fields of the Mississippi
Valley, and the mid-West. The eggs are
laid in the spring in the crowns of the plants.
Soon after hatching the small worm or larva
eats its way into the crown, hollowing out
from one third to one half of the crown during
the summer, or until the grub gets its growth.
If more than one larva is excavating the same
crown the plant is practically killed by their
work. The rest stage is carried on in the
cavity of the crown and the final change
to a mature, small, dark-coloured snout-
beetle is brought about in the same place.
The adults come out in the autumn, feeding
upon the plants and wintering not far from
where they were hatched, as they are unable
to fly. Egg laying begins early in the
spring.

64 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Owing to the rudimentary condition of
the wings of this insect, it does not pass
rapidly from one field to another, so trouble
from this source would be considerably
modified by a good system of rotation. If
plants are to be taken from old beds they
should be removed before the insect lays
its eggs. Spraying in the fall with arsenates
will result in the destruction of many of the
beetles. The burning over of old beds after
picking the crop is very beneficial in destroy-
ing great numbers of these insects.

Leaf eaters. — The most injurious insect
of the strawberry is the leaf roller. This is
a small, brownish caterpillar that folds one
of the sections of the leaf of the strawberry
by fastening the upper surfaces together
with very fine silken threads, feeding upon
the enclosed surface until the leaf turns
brown. When the larva is full-grown it
is about half an inch long. It then pupates,
or rests, inside the rolled leaf, emerging as
a moth in midsummer, being in turn able
to lay eggs for a second brood of cater-
pillars, even three or four broods a year
being hatched in the Southern States.

The remedies are simple, consisting of

9 ^ a

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 65

mowing and drying of the leaves after fruit-
ing, followed by burning for the early brood.
For the late broods applications of arsenical
poison can be used, thus destroying many of
the insects.

Another leaf eater is the slug. This
insect appears in the spring as a four-winged
fly, depositing its eggs within the tissue of
the leaves or stem. Shortly after the eggs
hatch; and the larva or worm eats small
round holes through the leaves, until in
five or six weeks it develops into a pale green
worm nearly three fourths of an inch in
length. Just previous to the rest stage it
enters beneath the surface of the leaf, form-
ing a cocoon in which it rests, coming out
later as a fly. In the North one brood a year
is common, two or more being usual for the
warmer climates of the Southern States.

Arsenical poisons, sprayed on the foliage
of the plants, will hold the insect in check.
If the plants are in fruit, non-poisonous
insect powders like pyrethrum or hellebore
must be used. After fruiting burning the
bed over after mowing the leaves will check
this insect.

Fruit-injuring insects. — A small, black

66 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

snout-beetle, "which lays its eggs in the buds
of the strawberries, following this by eating
away the part of the stem below the bud,
causing it to droop," known as the strawberry
weevil is one of the most injurious insects
of the fruit, A little white grub, which
develops from the egg in the bud, becomes
fully developed in a few weeks. About five
weeks after the egg is laid it emerges from
the pupal stage as a perfect beetle ready
to begin work on other flowers.

Clean culture is very necessary in combat-
ing this insect, especially with reference to
neighbouring old strawberry or blackberry
beds. As these latter are insect-breeding
beds they should be destroyed. Applications
of insecticides are not of value, as the insect
feeds inside the bud.

Covering the beds, if the plantation is
small, will prevent entrance of the insect.
The commercial grower must depend on
rotation of crops, clean culture and plough-
ing or burning over badly affected beds.

Many times malformed fruit is found
which is known as "buttoning." This is
caused by the check in the growth of the
young fruit given by the tarnished plant

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 67

bug which sucks the sap from the fruit.
Eggs are laid early in the spring, the young
hatching very soon, about the first of May,
feeding with the parents on the host. Dur-
ing July the winged insects scatter and are
found on a great variety of plants.

Application of pyrethrum powder has
proved to be the best remedy so far. Contact
sprays, like kerosene emulsion, are also useful.
Poisons are useless as the insects do not
chew their food, but suck it out of the plant
tissues.

The red spider is the bothersome pest
in the greenhouse. It may be controlled
somewhat by syringing the foliage every
pleasant day and by wetting down the walks,
making a moist atmosphere in the house.

Fungous diseases. — The most important
fungous disease is a leaf spot. This makes its
appearance in the form of small, discoloured
spots, being most abundant about the time of
flowering. At first these spots are of a reddish
or purplish tint, a little later increasing in size,
resulting in the death of the tissue and a
change in colour to white in the centre bor-
dered by red or purple at the edges of the
spots. Practically all strawberries are sus-

68 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

ceptible to this disease, although some varie^
ties, are more resistant than others, especiaQy
Marshall and Brand3n¥ine, while Bederwood
has great susceptibility.

The remedy is bordeaux mixture sprayed
on just before the flowers open, followed
(if the disease is seriously prevalent) by
mowing off and burning the leaves after the
fruiting season is over. On small beds the
diseased leaves may be removed by hand.

These remedial measures will also control
the other less important ones, which need
not be discussed in detail.

SPRAYING MIXTURES

Commercial growers have become quite
familiar with the preparation of bordeaux
mixture, but for the benefit of those who are
growing plants on a smaller scale this account
of the mixing is given.

I believe in being on the safe side in the
preparation of a spraying mixture, believing
that a few pennies spent at this time may in
the end save many dollars. The standard
formula is:

4 pounds Copper sulphate
6 pounds Lime
50 gallons Water.

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 69

To prepare: place the copper sulphate in
a bag, suspended in a barrel or other wooden
receptacle holding four gallons of water.
In another barrel slake or mix six pounds
of lime with six gallons of water. When
time to spray, take the solution of copper
sulphate and pour into the spray barrel, add
forty gallons of clean water, then strain in
the six gallons of the lime water (milk of lime
as it is sometimes called). The extra lime
will counteract possible injury from excess
strength of the copper sulphate. This is a
fungicide.

The addition to this mixture of three
pounds of arsenate of lead, for leaf-eating
insects, makes a good all-purpose spray
mixture.

In the cases where the fruit is set and
there is danger from poisoning if any of the
arsenic forms are used, hellebore or pyre-
thrum powders, both being non-poisonous,
may be employed. Apply these powders
early in the morning with the dew still on
the leaves, either using a bellows sprayer or
better still the powder hammer, which is
nothing more than a large, cheaply con-
structed shaker attached to a short handle.

JO MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

The powder being placed in this shaker,
the operator raises the shaker, dropping the
same as if hammering, catching it in the
other hand at the most convenient distance
for thorough spraying of the powder on
the leaves.

Kerosene emulsion is recommended against
the tarnished plant bug. Poison cannot be
used as the insect belongs to the sucking
class.

The preparation of kerosene emulsion is:
take one half pound of good laundry or whale-
oil soap, dissolve in one gallon of hot water,
after which add two gallons of kerosene,
agitate violently until there is an emulsion-
like fluid. To use, dilute one part to fifteen
parts water.

For the home gardener various manufac-
tured spray mixtures may be much more
convenient. These are fully efficient, and
should be used according to directions.

Kerosene emulsion, bordeaux mixture, and
all other spray materials which are in a liquid
form are best applied with a force pump which
is powerful enough to push the spray out in
a very fine mist. For the home garden or
small patches one of the small compressed

INSECTS, DISEASES, AND SPRAYING 7 1

air sprayers, costing about $6, complete,
will be very satisfactory. They have a sling
and are carried under the arm. The capacity
is about two gallons of liquid. The knap-
sack sprayer, which is carried on the back as
its name implies, is also quite a good one,
but has not the high pressure of the former.

For field work the size of sprayer would
depend on the acreage planted, the kind of
sprayer would depend on the man's likes
and dislikes and the amount of money he
has to invest. For small fields where the
grower is just starting in, and wishes to, or
has to, practise economy, a barrel pump,
mounted in a good oil barrel, with the
necessary hose, nozzles, piping, etc., is a very
practical outfit.

A man with some mechanical ability can
arrange with gas pipe a four-rowed sprayer,
mounting the complete outfit on a two-
wheeled rig, having the wheels so that they
spread two rows of plants, the horse walking
in the middle cultivated strip. With a good
horse, one man can pump and drive.

For larger fields some of the much adver-
tised spray rigs with all their equipment are
advisable. Some of these sprayers have

^^ MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

gasolene engines for pumping and spray five
or six rows at a time. The liquid with
these machines being under pressure of
lOO to 150 pounds, is forced out in a very-
light misty spray, covering all parts of the
plants very completely.

CHAPTER VI

Picking, Packing, and Marketing

The strawberry demands a great deal of
care at picking time. When the berries have
come to their large green stage and begin to
turn to the pink, then scarlet or red, it is very-
important that careful attention be given, and
that the picking begins at the right time, sub-
sequent pickings being given either every day
or every other day, according to the condition
of the bed, etc.

Picking is a quite simple process where
the patch is a small home one or really part
of the farmer's garden, in which the owner
picks according to the demands of his house-
hold, but where the business is on a com-
mercial scale it is indeed a problem.

The grower must depend for his pickers
upon the women, girls, and children in the
community, attracting them either by a
slight increase of price per box for picking,

74 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

constancy of yearly pickings, or by larger
yields of berries, making it easier or quicker
to earn a good day's pay.

Oftentimes the pickers come asking for
this line of work; other times the grower
may obtain the pickers by an advertisement
in the local paper or a notice posted on the
farm bulletin board, which in many farms
is located near the boundary road.

A FEW RULES FOR PICKING

The grower must have a few general rules
for picking, such as :

1. Berries must not be picked while there
is moisture on the vines.

2. Berries must be pink all over or three
fourths red.

3. Berries should be picked riper in cool
weather than in warm.

4. Berries should be picked riper for local
trade than for shipping.

5. Filled carriers must not be allowed
to stand in the sun.

6. Berries must be picked with stem at
least a quarter of an inch long, but not longer
than one half an inch.

After the pickers have been selected, it

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 75

IS necessary to firmly fix in their minds
several very important points.
These are called the pickers' rules :

1. That each picker shall have a certain
space or row allotted from which he or she
is to pick all berries of a certain stage of
ripeness; each picker being responsible for
this space or row.

2. When removing the berries from the
vines, pick them by pinching or breaking off
the stem from one fourth to one half an inch
above the berry. Carefully place in the box
each berry with its hull and part of stem
attached.

3. Do not squash or press the fruit with
the hands.

4. Do not walk or sit in the plant row.

5. Grade the berries as they are picked.

6. Don't talk too much, run about bed,
or create a disturbance.

By careful enforcement of these rules
it is possible to pick the fruit cleanly, have
it graded at the least expense, and obtain
the best possible fruit without having mashed
or soft berries.

As the pickers gather the berries, they
must place the same in some convenient

76 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

receptacle, the split-wood strawberry box,
holding about a quart, being the most com-
monly used. Each picker should have four
or six of these boxes, and for convenience
in carrying them should have a picking
stand. This stand can be home-made, con-
sisting of a tray of sufficient size to hold
the number of boxes required, mounted on
four short legs, holding the tray off the
ground, to prevent injury to the fruit or the
plants and doing away with spilling of the
boxes gathered.

A handle of either part of a barrel hoop,
or heavy wire, firmly attached to the sides
of the tray for convenience in carrying, is
also valuable. With one of these trays and
six boxes, the pickers can grade the berries
into three or more classes :

First grade: extra large selected berries;
Second grade: medium size berries; Third
grade: culls. If the pickers are careful in
this matter of grading and picking with
hulls attached to berries, the boxes can be
placed from the pickers' trays into the crates
for shipment.

As each picker brings in his full boxes
of strawberries, it is highly important that

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING ^^

some form of bookkeeping should be carried
out so that each worker will receive full
credit for the number of boxes picked. The
system of a tallyman, who has each picker's
name, and marks against these names the
number of boxes picked, has not proved
satisfactory, because of the lack of confidence
in the tallyman by the pickers.

The method of giving checks which have
numbers from one to ten on them, denoting
the number of boxes received, has proved
quite satisfactory. These checks can be
again exchanged for checks of higher denom-
ination as 20, 30, 40, 50, etc. The great
advantage of this method is that each one
of the pickers keeps his own books and is paid
according to the amount of checks turned
in on the day of settling accounts. Pickers,
however, are liable to lose the checks which
causes some misunderstanding at times.

Tags which have numbers from i to 50
printed on them, which are punched as the
picker turns in the full boxes, are found to
be the best system to date.

Pickers are generally paid by the box, and
the more experienced the worker, the larger
the income. Some sections pay one cent

78 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

a box for picking strawberries, other places
pay two cents, and in a great many districts
one and one half cents is paid. From care-
fully worked out figures the latter amount
is the average price for picking in the many
strawberry sections. Pay day comes at
the end of the season as a rule, as the pickers
are retained better by paying but once; or,
if paid weekly, one quarter to one half the
pay is retained.

The average picker, in my experience, will
pick from thirty to forty quarts in the morn-
ing — that is, from 9 to 12 o'clock. One
report from New Hampshire states that a
young woman of sixteen picked one hundred
quarts in six hours.

PACKING

As the full boxes are brought from the field,
they are given to the packers. The packers
should not be in the full sunlight, but in
the shade of a tree, under a tent or tem-
porary building, or in a permanent build-
ing. The strawberries when received should
be placed in a cool room where the tem-
perature can be held at 50 degrees, or, in
case this is not possible, they should be

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 79

placed in the shade and in the coolest spot
available. The packers then take the boxes
as they need them, emptying the fruit on
small trays or tables three feet wide and
four to six feet long.

All imperfect and defective specimens are
then removed, the remainder being sorted
as to size and sometimes colour, placing
them in the boxes, the top layer of fruits
being arranged evenly, hulls all one way
down, making the full boxes very attractive.
These layers may be arranged in tiers
4 X 4, 4 X 5, and 5x5, according to size.

The full, well-packed boxes are then placed
in crates. The thirty-two-box crate has
eight boxes on the bottom layer, then a slat
form on top. This protects the layer and
serves as a foundation for the next layer.
Four layers of eight boxes each constitute
the standard crate, except in the case of the
refrigerator crate. One good packer will sort
and pack from fifteen to twenty crates a day
at a cost of from 15 cents to 25 cents per crate.

RULES FOR PACKING

I. No culls in the boxes. Put nothing
but fair-sized fruit, none under five tier.

8o MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

2. After filling box about half full place
the rest stems down, in order that the top
layer may be placed evenly and level, stems
down.

3. Fill boxes solid, especially at comers,
or they will be short weight, settle, spoil
your pack and bring less money.

4. Fill box so that top of layer will come
three eighths of an inch above the top of box.

5. Allow no berries to project over side of
box, if they do berries will be crushed, the
pack spoiled and the box stained.

6. Packers to sort out all green, overripe,
misshapen and under five tier berries.

7. Use clean crates and keep them from
being soiled.

8. After crates are packed, place them in a
cool place.

SHIPPING

In the case of fruits to be shipped long
distances, it is advisable to cool the boxes
of berries for one half to three quarters of
an hour before they are placed in the refriger-
ator cars. This cooling and subsequent plac-
ing these crates in refrigerator cars hardens
off the fruit, preventing to a considerable

ill

Ml
ill

THE TIME TO MULCR
■ve moisture and to keep the berriee clean.

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 8 1

extent the ripening of the berries while
in triansit, delivering the fruit at the mar-
ket in much better condition than if not
cooled.

The grower is enabled by this process to
bring his fruit to a riper condition before
shipping. Care must, however, be exercised
not to overdo the cooling nor to hold the
fruit in cold storage too long, as it is not
possible to do so profitably. This method
is expensive and demands a higher price
for the product, the demand though is quite
brisk in the larger markets for the early
berries at good prices.

Local or nearby markets do not demand
the former expensive method. Cool the
berries before taking them to the market or
depot, carry the crates in a spring wagon,
with a canvas or some other cover over the
berries to keep out the dust. Leave the
crates in a cool, shady place, having them
at the depot but a short time before the train
is due. Notify the person you ship to, be he
commission man, grocer, or individual, of the
shipment, number of crates or boxes, time
of shipment and other matters.

Having the grower's name on the crate.

82 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

or better still on every box, with the farm's
name and address, supplementing an even
supply of good berries, well packed, honest all
through, and sending the same to individuals
or reliable commission houses, will result in
the building up of a lasting, paying trade for
the grower.

INCIDENTALS NEEDED FOR PICKING, PACKING,

AND MARKETING

The grower needs the following articles
for the successful handling of his crop of
fruit.

I. Split-wood, one-quart baskets, such as
the Berlin, Hallock, Leslie, etc. The Berlin
is the most common, being a white box,
made from basswood, which adds to the
attractiveness of the fruit. This box is
5 inches square on top and 4^ inches
square on bottom, being from 2f to 3
inches deep, and holding about 67I cubic
inches.

The Hallock (Michigan) box is made in
two sizes, No. i or wine measure, is 4J inches
square, 3 inches deep and 3I inches high
outside, and contains 6o| cubic inches. No.
2, or full quart, is 4! inches square and the

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 83

same depth as No. i, and contains 67!
cubic inches.

The Hallock (Illinois) box is 5 inches
square and 2| inches deep, containing 62^
cubic inches.

The Leslie, standard box of the South,
generally sold in the flat is made up by
wrapping the band around the bottom,
inserting the corners of bottom in punch
holes of band and driving the tacks or staples
through the lap of the band.

The "wine measure" box has a band
3i inches wide and 20 J inches long, and
the bottom is 3 J inches in width and
6f inches long. The band for the "dry
measure'' is 2if inches long and 3I
inches wide and the bottom is 3§ x 7J
inches, the box being 2f inches deep
inside, and holds a full quart, 67J cubic
inches.

The cost of those boxes per thousand is :
Berlin, $3.50; Michigan Hallock, $3 in the
flat; Illinois Hallock, $3 in the flat; Leslie,
$3 in the flat.

There is a law in some states as to the
size of boxes for strawberries. It would
be well for the strawberry grower to look

84 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

up this matter, especially in the state to
which he intends to ship fruit.

2. Crates are necessary so that these
boxes may be sent to market in a sealed
receptacle.

For the Berlin boxes a crate holding
thirty-two or twenty-four quarts is used.
The gift crate made of light slats with
heavier bottoms and tops and having three
racks to place between layers of boxes is very
economical and desirable. The thirty-two-
quart size costs $8 for fifty and the twenty-
four-quart size costs $7.50 for fifty. For
those growers who peddle their fruit or sell
it so that the crates are returned, a more
durable crate, iron bound, costing thirty-
two-quart size, fifty for $23.15, and twenty-
four-quart size, fifty for $19.90 is recom-
mended.

For the Michigan Hallock boxes, a sixteen-
quart and twenty-four-quart size is made,
the smaller size weighing about three pounds
and the larger five pounds. This is quite
light for the strength of the crate. One
hundred of the sixteen-quart size cost $6.50;
one hundred of the twenty-four-quart size
cost $8.

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 85

This is exceedingly inexpensive for ship-
ping crates and can be used as gifts without
overburdening the grower with excessive
expenses for marketing.

The Leslie crates are also very inexpensive,
costing but $7 for one hundred of the twenty-
four-quart in the flat. For the full quart
boxes the crates have three heads 7 J x 14 J,
two pieces for covers 7 J x 23 J, two pieces for
sides 6 J x 23 J, and three pieces for bottoms
4 X 23^ inches, weighing about six pounds.
The wine measure differs somewhat in size,
owing to their being small boxes, but they
are made up the same way.

Refrigerator crates for distant shipping
are sometimes used; these are heavy crates
which give an opportunity for cooling or
chilling the fruit, generally by placing ice
in the bottom of the crate and closing it
somewhat tightly.

3. Picking stands, one for each picker,
either home-made or purchased, are very
convenient for the quick picking and carry-
ing of the fruit in more than one basket.
They are made to carry either four, six or
eight quart baskets and are equipped with
a handle. Legs on them are also useful.

86 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Four-basket size, twelve for 60 cents; six-
basket size, twelve for 75 cents; eight-basket
size twelve for 75 cents.

4. Checks, tags, or some good system of
tallying boxes picked by the pickers is
essential.

Tags should have blank space for writing
in the grower^s name, picker's name, date
issued, and price per quart. When the
picker brings the berries into the packing
house or shed, the grower or tallyman
simply punches out the printed figure cor-
responding with the number of quarts de-
livered. Five hundred printed on No. 6
shipping tags cost $2.25; one punch costs
40 cents.

5. Tent, shed, or packing house, contain-
ing a sorting table and room for pre-cooling
the fruit. This packing place need not be
expensive, but can consist of a simple shelter,
which will hold off the sun's rays and permit
of the cooling of the fruit. The sorting table
can be home-made ; two wooden horses and
some boards, smooth side up, make a prac-
tical table.

6. A spring wagon to transport the fruit
from the packing shed to the station is

PICKING, PACKING, AND MARKETING 87

important, as it does not cause the fruit to
be joggled and thereby crushed. For a
small number of crates, a good farm democrat
is a good wagon (cost $60 to $125); for larger
loads anything from a one-horse express
wagon up to the very expensive market gar-
deners ' wagons can be used.

CHAPTER VII

Mulching, Renovating the Old Bed

In gardening parlance "to mulch" means
to cover the surface of the soil with any
material, such as leaves, loose earth, hay
or straw, so as to protect the roots of the
plants from frost, loss of water by evapora-
tion or weed growth, etc. As used in the
sense of mulching strawberries, it will mean
the covering of the plants with organic matter,
such as dead vines, hay, straw, leaves, etc., in
the fall for winter and early spring protection.

MATERIAL USED FOR MULCHING

There is a great variety of materials
used for mulching. Nature's mulch is the
debris of fallen leaves, grass, and other litter.
In the grain-growing sections, wheat, barley,
or oat straw is used quite extensively; near
marsh land, either salt or fresh, the coarse
hay taken from these places is used.

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 89

In the East oat or rye straw is generally the
material. Many places have quantities of
pine needles, seaweed, leaves, evergreen
boughs — all these are good. Near large
cities, where stable manure is obtained for
the hauling or at a low cost, it also is used
for mulching. The list is so long that it
would be nearly impossible to enumerate all
the materials that could be used. Enough
to say that all straws or other litter should not
contain large amounts of weed seed, that the
materials should be raised or purchased at a
low price, and that the materials should be
fit to protect the plants without smothering
them.

OBJECTS OF MULCHING

By a careful study of the results of mulch-
ing the following objects are brought forth
as the reasons why one should mulch :

I. Protection of plants from winter or
early spring injury. The excessive cold on
bare ground often results in the destruction
of the plants. Heaving of the plants in the
early spring by honeycomb frost is one of
the greatest sources of . unthrifty, profitless
strawberry beds. These can both be over-
come by mulching with the proper materials.

90 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

2. Conservation of moisture in the soil by
hindering evaporation. From a study of
soil cultivation it is found that by breaking
up the top layer and leaving it in a fairly
loose condition it is possible to reduce to a
minimum the loss of moisture by evaporation.
This is nothing more than a dirt mulch and
stops capillarity, the rise of water in the soil
just below the loosened surface. Any ma-
terial such as has been mentioned will give
the same results as the dirt mulch, and has
the further advantage of being more per-
manent, not being destroyed, as is the dirt
mulch, by the first rain.

3. Retaining the surface soil in a loose,
friable condition. This is brought about by
the fact that the soil is not packed down by
being tramped upon or by heavy rains beat-
ing upon it, but is retained in the same con-
dition as it was just previous to being covered
with the mulch material.

4. In some cases plant food is added to
the soil. This is particularly so when ma-
nure is used as a mulch, principally by the
washing of the plant foods out of the manure
into the soil.

5. Cooler soil, the direct results of the

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 9I

shading of the soil and the liberal supply of
moisture in the topsoil, making root growth;
in colder regions retarding growth until all
danger from frost is past.

6. Lessens weed growth by smothering
the young seedlings.

7. Where some of the mulch is left on the
bed after plant growth starts in the spring,
it holds the fruit up from the soil, thereby
enabling the grower to obtain cleaner fruit,

HOW TO APPLY THE MULCH

The easiest and quickest way to apply
stable manure, fine chaff, or any other fine
material on matted rows of strawberries,
after the ground is fairly firmed by freezing
in the fall, is with a manure spreader which
straddles the rows. Set the spreader to throw
fifteen tons to the acre; the plants will be
covered just deep enough and very evenly.

All coarse straw, vines, etc., will require
hand labour. Stacks of these materials
should be made, or loads should be dumped
at convenient distances along the sides or
ends of the strawberry bed ; then men with
forks can spread the material over the plants,
being careful not to cover them too deeply

92 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

nor to injure the plants by careless walking
or forking.

WHEN ARE MATERIALS APPLIED?

Where freezing of the soil is light and
thawing often follows, it is advisable to apply
the mulch just as soon as the active growth
of the plant ceases, either in the last of
October or the month of November. Pro-
tection in this case would not only be against
the many freezes and thaws but against the
high dry winds of winter, which often do
great damage to plants by drying them out or
by exposing the roots to later sun action by
removing or blowing away the soil.

In the colder parts of the country, where the
freezing is more permanent, it is best to wait
until the ground is frozen hard enough to
allow the wagon or cart to be driven upon it
without breaking into the soil. At the ex-
treme North, where snow comes early and stays
until late spring, it would be hardly advisable
to mulch very heavily as the plants would
smother with the combined mulch and snow.

WHEN IS THE MULCH REMOVED?

Where heavy mulching has been practised
it is best to remove the coarse, bulky part

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 93

quite early in the spring; otherwise the straw-
berries will have a whitish tender growth
which will be injured when exposed to the
sun. Where light mulching is carried on, and
the plants are pushing their growth through,
it is best to remove only patches of mulch
that are too thick for rapid plant develop-
ment.

Some growers remove the mulch just as
early as they can, and practise thorough cul-
tivation up to the time that the fruits are half
grown, believing that they are thus able to
obtain large yields of better quality fruit.
If the mulch seems to be needed they re-
place it in order that the fruit may be held
up from the soil.

The chief drawback to this method is the
greater chance of the fruit being gritty by
being spattered with the loose soil if rain
should fall during the last stages of fruiting.

RENEWING OLD BEDS

The lack of sufficient knowledge on the
subject of renewing old strawberry beds has
caused many growers to go out of the business
in despair and pronounce this industry an
unprofitable one. This question of just

94 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

how often a strawberry plantation should be
renewed is one of the most disputed, dif-
ferent growers advancing contrary ideas with
equal evidence in each case.

In the majority of cases of failure the people
have not learned that the strawberry is not
a plant that can bear a profitable crop in-
definitely, but must be renewed, unlike other
fruits such as the apple, pear, etc., which
bear crops for long periods.

Two, or in some cases even three, profit-
able crops of fruit may be harvested before
it is advisable to plough under the old bed.
The advisability of removing more than one
crop depends largely on the condition of the
patch. If there are not too many weeds
in the strawberry bed and the plants are
numerous, showing considerable vigour and
healthy foliage, it may be left for a second or
even a third crop.

The older beds are more liable to serious
attacks of insects and diseases which slightly
increases the expense of management because
more frequent applications of spraying ma-
terials are necessary.

Another point in the holding over of the
beds, and not in their favour, is the decrease

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 95

in size of the fruit; but this is practically-
made up for in the early ripening of the fruit,
enabling the grower to ship his berries earlier
to market and thereby obtain some of the
higher prices.

If a bed is to be carried over for two or
three years, it will be found that the in-
creased cost of weeding or cleaning out the
old bed is greater than that of setting out
and caring for a new one.

There are at least three methods by which
a strawberry bed may be renewed with very
satisfactory results. All of these methods
rquire, however, a bed filled with numerous
thrifty and vigorous plants.

The first method, used after the plants
have fruited, consists of ploughing one fur-
row from each side of the matted row, leav-
ing a strip in the middle not more than a foot
wide, which has a fair number of good plants
growing in it. Following this, well decom-
posed manure is spread liberally on the hill,
or back furrow, which the ploughing has made
between the plant rows. At least 15 tons to
the acre should be applied, and more if it
is available. The shovel-tooth cultivator,
either five or seven teeth, should then be

96 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

used in this ploughed strip. This will mix
the soil and manure and should level oflF the
freshly ploughed strip between the rows. At
this time, or just before cultivating, it is a
good practice to go through the patch with a
hoe and cut out the old plants. If it is not
possible to tell the difference between old
and young plants, the rows of plants can be
cut so that six or eight inches of soil with
three or four plants growing in it are left in
the row, then a cleared strip of six or eight
inches, then another collection of three or
four plants, and so on.

If the soil throughout the bed is made
level, the remaining plants will soon send out
runners and at the joints new plants will form.
Very soon an entirely new bed will be ob-
tained, and where cultivation and care are
given the results will be quite satisfactory.

The second method which is started at the
same time as the first — that is, after fruiting
— consists of ploughing only on one side of
the matted row. Generally two furrows are
necessary, but in very wide rows three or
four may have to be given.

By this method the original plants, some-
times called the mother plants, are ploughed

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 97

under and the remaining plants are all
young plants. These young plants are left in
a long row or strip which should not be over
one foot in width, nine inches being better.
A heavy coating of manure as used in the
first method is applied and worked in with
the cultivator, leaving the bed level. None
of the plants in the row are cut out, but are
allowed to produce new plants as desired by
the grower.

It is seen by this second method that the
major part of the new plants will have new
soil to grow in, as the centre of the matted
rows will be changed at least one foot in one
or the other direction.

The third method is that of pot-growing
the plants, replanting in the fall from these
pot-grown plants and ploughing under the old
bed. This may be done by two systems:

First: Quite early in the spring the very
best, extra choice, large plants are selected
for planting. These are set in soil that is
as near as possible the ideal for the most
successful strawberry production. Each
plant is allowed to make not more than four
runners; two are better. Only one plant is
allowed on each runner.

96 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Second : Plants are selected in the old bed,
generally those that have marked ability as
to productiveness and heathfulness. This
system is quite similar to the first method,
but saves time and labour as the plants are
not transplanted. The same afterwork for
both systems follows:

Underneath the joint of the runner,
where the new plant will be formed, three or
four inch pots, filled with good soil, are buried
to the rim and a little soil is placed on the
runner, both to keep it in place and to help
start the new plant. After the leaves have
formed and the roots have developed so that
the plant may be independent of the parent,
the runner is severed and the pot is either
taken to a coldframe or it is placed where
good care, and especially water, can be
given. Sometimes it is either planted in the
fall or directly in the bed after the old bed is
turned under, where it is allowed to produce
fruit the next spring. Other times it is carried
along in the pot for winter forcing in the
greenhouse as is later described.

For methods one and two, provided manure
is not available, 800 to 1,000 pounds of any
of the complete artificial fertilizers can be

RENOVATING THE OLD BED 99

broadcasted and cultivated in, followed by
such light applications of fertilizer as, in the
estimation of the grower, may be needed.

There is one practice that should be car-
ried out, especially on mulched beds that
are about to be renewed, and that is the use
of the mowing machine just after fruiting.
Run the machine with the bar set high so that
it will cut the old leaves but not injure the
crowns. Allow the leaves to dry for a day
or two, then start a fire at the windward
side and burn the bed. If the fire burns
down the length of the row, it will be better
than if it burned across the rows.

Be careful that there are no large masses
of mulch on the bed, especially over the
plants. Sometimes it is advisable to rake
the rows and burn the raked material in the
cultivated strips.

The advantages of burning are:

1. That the bed is left clean.

2. That insects or diseases are killed or
controlled.

3. That the bed, being clean, is easier to
work.

After one or the other of these methods is
used, the bed is treated just the same as if it

ICX> MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

were a newly set patch. In fact, the whole
idea in this renewing is nothing more than
the saving of the cost of setting a new bed or
saving the hand work where good labour is
scarce.

Generally, a grower will practise rotation
of crops, taking but one crop from his bed
and setting out another on an entirely new
piece of land ; believing that what little saving
there may be in renewing the old bed will be
greatly counterbalanced by the larger size
of fruit, freedom from insects and diseases,
and better physical and chemical conditions
of his soil.

*/■

•^

H.-.j

, i ,i».

CHAPTER VIII

Winter Forcing

Thus far in the United States the forcing
of strawberries for a winter crop has not be-
come commercially of any great importance.
But it is possible to obtain an extra or fancy
price for ripe strawberries in midwinter or
even a month or two before the influx of the
out-of-door fruit.

This trade earns a price that is even in
advance of that received for the fresh fruits
shipped from the South, and competing in
the same market with them. On many of
the large estates, or even small places, where
suitable arrangements are made for growing
the plants in greenhouses, strawberries are
produced more for the benefit of the owners
in having an out-of-season product than for
their mere money value.

Strawberries can be forced to fruiting
without much difficulty, provided a person

xoz

I02 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

has a good greenhouse or some glass or semi-
glass structure in which a certain tempera-
ture can be maintained. The old idea that the
plants must be placed near the glass or they
will be drawn out — that is, become slen-
der — is not so true to-day with our modern
large pane, non-light obstructing construc-
tions, giving to the house the greatest amount
of light possible. However, with a heavy
sash bar or sash house having small panes
of glass, the roof should be low and the
plants near the glass.

The best variety for forcing is the Mar-
shall. It seems that this berry is particu-
larly adapted to the most intensive forms
of strawberry growing, and especially as an
out-of-season production in the greenhouse.

The two methods of growing the plants
are on benches and in pots.

The former method is used but little,
while the latter is employed for the follow-
ing reasons:

1. The roots are enclosed in each pot.

2. It is possible to control plant food, such
as liquid manure or fertilizer.

3 . By controlling the food, each demand of
the plant can be catered to.

WINTER FORCING IO3

4. The plants, being under the control of
the grower, can be ripened ofF better in the
fall.

5. Pots require only a small space, so that
few or many may be in houses of differ-
ent temperatures, or the pots may contain
plants in several stages of producing fruits.

6. The convenience of pots — light, easy to
handle, very little storage place needed, etc.

The principal drawback to pot culture is
the first expense, the purchasing of pots; but
with reasonable care they will last several
years. Then the expense of bench and pot
culture should be about the same.

After the potted plant has been removed
from the field it is taken to the potting shed
to be shifted to a larger sized pot, usually a
six-inch one, sometimes called a fruiting
pot. The soil used at this time can be
either the same as that of the bed, or may
be three parts sod compost to one part
sharp sand, with about one pint of very fine
ground bone to every bushel of soil. Of
course potsherds or some material for drain-
age should be placed in the bottom of each
pot to allow for ample drainage. This is
doubly necessary because large quantities

I04 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

of water are to be used in the forcing and
fruiting period, and it is important that the
strawberry plants do not have too much
moisture around the roots.

Many growers advise the plunging of
these pots, almost to the rim, in some coarse
material, like coal ashes or spent tan bark,
in order that the earthworms will be pre-
vented from entering the pots. Other
growers replace the pots in the soil near the
parent plant, especially if water for irriga-
tion or sprinkling is handy. Otherwise
the pots are placed with convenience for
watering, as this is the main thing necessary
during the growing season.

Sometimes, for convenience, or for the pur-
pose of protecting the plants during heavy
thunderstorms, the pots may be placed in
coldframes without the glass. In the fall,
about the first of October, it is time to con-
sider ripening off the plants. At this time
the plants will have attained their full growth
and the pots will be filled with their roots.
Less water should be given and a drying
out of the soil in the pots should result.

There are two reasons for this drying off
the potted plants :

WINTER FORCING IO5

1. Firmer and larger crowns will be de-
veloped.

2. The pot will not be broken when the
freezing weather comes.

In the first case, this drying off represents
the dry fall season and causes the plant to
store up material in the crowns for future
use. The plants are then in the right condi-
tion for the subsequent forcing.

Freezing of the soil in the pot when there
is considerable moisture in it causes pressure
on the side of the pot and finally breaks it.
This, of course, is a needless expense and
should not occur. It seems best for the
future forcing that this freezing should take
place, although it is not necessary. This
freezing gives the plant the idea that the
rest period has actually come, and it often
results in better crops, both in quality and
size of berries.

The potted plants are taken from this
frozen condition and placed in suitable stor-
age rooms where they may be taken out with
the least inconvenience.

Generally speaking, from the time the
plants are brought into the greenhouse until
fruiting, there is a lapse of eight to ten weeks.

I06 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

sometimes twelve weeks passing before ripe
strawberries are ready, variation in the time
being due principally to different conditions
of sunlight and temperature. If ripe straw-
berries are desired in January, then the plant
must be started early in November.

When the plants are brought under the
forcing process in the houses, the tempera-
ture for the first two or three days should be
held at 35 degrees, day and night. After
this time slightly higher temperature may be
given, or the pots may be changed to another
house. At the end of the first week 45 de-
grees should be registered. The second week-
end 10 to 15 degrees higher in the daytime is
required, with a night temperature of not
less than 50 degrees. After this slightly
higher day temperature may be given, 75
to 80 degrees, with 55 to 60 degrees at night.

The pots may be set on shelves or any
convenient place in the house, nearer the
glass in darker houses with less attention as
to nearness of glass in the so-called "day-
light" houses. If the pots are to be placed
on the benches, they may be plunged to near
the rim, in either spent tan bark or coal
ashes, as these materials will give good drain-

WINTER FORCING 10/

age and still retain enough moisture. When
the leaves start growing it is sometimes best
to spray with bordeaux mixture, as a pre-
ventive against the leaf spot. This spraying
may have to be repeated later, according to
the appearance of the plant. Wetting of
the walks should be discontinued at blossom-
ing time. This is highly necessary if fruit is
desired as the pollen will not ripen in a moist
condition of the air. Good ventilation at
flowering should also be in order, especially
at midday, still maintaining the required
temperature.

Pollination is carried on by hand, generally
during the middle of the day. There are
several ways of giving pollen to the pistils.
Some growers pick off a flower here and there
and thrust it into an attached flower; others
merely tap the flower with a pencil, causing
the pollen to fall on the pistil.

The most common method, however, is
that of collecting the pollen in a watch glass,
spoon, or ladle and applying it to the pistils
with the aid of a camel's-hair brush. Some
varieties may be able to produce fruit with-
out this artificial pollination; nevertheless, the
majority of growers prefer the hand method.

I08 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

When the fruit is set, all but six or eight
of the very best fruits should be picked oiF.
This will result in greatly increased size of
the remaining berries, as the full strength or
life of the plant is given to produce these
few. At this time it is a good practice to
give the plants an application of liquid man-
ure, made by diluting well-rotted cow manure
with water. At first the solution must be
weak, and not applied very often, one dose in
four or five days being enough, increasing the
number of applications as the size of the
fruit progresses. Also slightly increase the
strength of the liquid.

At ripening time it is important to be
very careful in applying this, ofttimes it is
better to use clear water than to discolour
the fruit with the former watering.

As the fruit swells and hangs so that it
can touch either the soil, pot, or wood, it is
often best to give it some support in order
that the fruit may be ripened all over.
Small meshed window screening, cut so that
it can hold up the fruit, is very good. Pieces
of hay wire bent so that the fruit will be held
away from the pot are also used.

The fruit should be picked as explained

WINTER FORCING IO9

in another chapter, and should be very care-
fully packed to show itself off. The Leslie
box lined with white paper is the best one
for attracting attention. The plants are
worthless after once fruiting.

The price received for this fruit is ex-
tremely high as compared to the out-of-
door fruit, but it is generally purchased by
those who can afford the fruit out of season
and 50 cents to $i or more a box is no draw-
back if these parties have the taste for straw-
berries out of season.

CHAPTER IX

Propagation, Breeding

The strawberry is one of the easiest plants
to propagate; in fact, nature has arranged
for the production of offspring from the
plants. There are two ways by which the
plant is propagated that are worthy of
consideration :

1. By seeds.

2. By runners (or rather, new plants
produced at certain points on the runners).

The first process is the one that is so
common among our wild strawberries, where
the fruit matures and the seed drops to the
ground, there being partly covered up and
either germinating that summer; or, if the
conditions are not right, it may lay over
until the opening of spring the following
year. Man has stepped in and used this
seed method of propagation for the produc-
tion of new varieties.

PROPAGATION, BREEDING III

For the practical farmer, suburbanite,
or grower, who has no thought or time for
the first process of propagation, the second
is the only feasible one to consider.

This method consists of setting the plants
in well enriched and prepared soil and
giving the runners the best possible oppor-
tunity to grow and produce plants at the
joints. If the soil is particularly fine (some-
times a top dressing of well-decomposed
manure is advantageously applied) around
the plant so that the roots from these
new formed plants can obtain a foothold
quickly, the resultant growth is more satis-
factory.

It is generally considered that the first
plant which is produced on each runner is
the best, and this is true in one sense — that
is, that being first it has a longer time to
develop and, therefore, is larger in the fall of
the year. Nevertheless, the second or third
plant produced is just as good as the first,
as far as its ability to produce fruit, etc.,
is concerned.

It has sometimes been noticed that, owing
to better soil conditions around the second
or third plant produced on a runner, these

112 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

plants outstrip the first produced, where the
soil is not in such good condition.

It is better not to allow overproduction
of new plants by the parent. Four runners
with one plant, possibly two, on each will
return larger plants in the fall than where
the plant is allowed to produce great num-
bers of runners and plants.

There is a great difference in the relative
power or characteristics of certain varieties
of strawberries to produce plants. Some,
like the Marshall, Gandy, Texas, etc., are
shy bearers of young plants; while other
varieties, like Stevens' Late Champion,
Michel *s Early, Dunlop, will over reproduce.
Careful attention must be given these latter
in regard to thinning the plants if a full crop
of large berries is desired.

After the new plants have become firmly
established, the runner from the old plant
to the new is broken, and the new individual
has its own way to work, without further
help from the parent. At this time, or later,
the new plants may be moved to their new
places in the bed that is to be set out each
year, being sure that the plant that is lifted
from the old bed has many strong yellow

PROPAGATION, BREEDING II 3

to whitish coloured roots. If it has black
roots, it is not a new freshly produced plant,
but is an old plant. These old ones are not
as desirable to set out, as larger and bet-
ter fruit is produced on younger plants.

There has been much talk about the pot-
grown plants which are advertised for sale
in the late summer or early fall. These can
be easily grown by filling with good soil and
sinking a two or three inch pot into the ground
just under the joint in the runner where the
new plant is to develop. When the new
plants have produced a sufficient number
of roots, so that the pots contain a com-
pact mass or ball, the runners are care-
fully severed and the pots with the plants
are lifted and are ready to sell.

They may be sent to the purchaser with
the pot, or the pots may be removed and
each plant rolled separately in a piece of
paper, generally a newspaper, or may be
packed in boxes and shipped without wrap-
ping. One hundred plants, pot-grown, cost
without pots, about $^y or 50 cents a dozen.

The cost of these plants is, of course, more
than for the spring or fall dug plants, owing
to the labour involved and the fact that

114 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

practically the whole plant is sold. It is
possible, by using plants that have become
well established in the pots, or those that
have had a fair length of time to develop,
to get a moderate crop of fruit the first
spring. This, of course, would be of more
importance to the small grower, farmer, or
fancier, than to the large commercial grower,
as the extra expense in either growing or
buying the plants would be practically out
of the question for the large grower, who
caters to the general market, and must pro-
duce large crops of fruit in order to make a
profit.

There is one point that must be very
carefully observed in the propagation of
plants. When the mother plant is set In
the bed for the purpose of producing other
plants, it must not be expected to produce
fruit as well as plants; therefore, all blos-
soms must be picked off the mother plant.
This is also the best practice for newly set
beds in which the first year the original
plants are expected to produce a heavy crop
of offspring. The grower must be reasonable,
and remove the buds as soon as (observed,
thereby giving the strength to the propagation

PROPAGATION, BREEDING II5

of plants rather than to the exhaustive work
of producing buds, flowers, pollen, and fruit.

PEDIGREED OR THOROUGHBRED PLANTS
vv nat IS nicanx uy xnc wora

What is meant by the word pedigree" or
thoroughbred" as applied to the plants of
the strawberry? The words signify that
the plant is of a particular strain, or that it
has a known "line of ancestors," sometimes
called plant genealogy- It may be the
result of breeding of two good parents and
the subsequent selections of the best off-
spring each year, until a constancy or fixed
characteristic or habit is maintained. An-
other method may be nothing but the selec-
tion of the best producing plants of some
variety for a long term of years. This may be
started in the home garden where the plant
is selected that produces: (i) The largest
number of berries; (2) the largest number
of well-shaped berries; (3) the largest
number of large-sized, uniform berries; (4)
the most vigorous, healthy plant, coupled
with the three other characteristics.

This plant is removed from the bed after
fruiting and set in the well-prepared prop-
agating bed for the production of plants.

Il6 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

These plants may be allowed to fruit the
next year, and one or two, that have even
better qualities than the parent, may be
selected and placed in the propagating bed
after fruiting. New plants are thus obtained
which are, the following year, subjected to
the process of choice selection.

This selection may be carried on for years
and years, and, if the grower has some good
ideals to select to, each plant will tend to be
of higher quality than its parent. There may
be poor seasons; as drought, frost, and in-
sects, or other injuries may somewhat hinder,
but the results for an average number of
years will be of great value to the grower
who practises this process of selection.

Many times a person has not the time
nor the inclination to practise improvement
of strawberry plants by selection, and it is
fortunate that we have engaged in selling
plants to the public men that do take pains
to produce plants that are thus pedigreed or
thoroughbred.

POLLINATION

The statement is often made that certain
plants must be planted with reference to

a .-s
S 11

|l|
ill

ill

2 ill

PROPAGATION, BREEDING II7

pollination. Now just what is meant by
this term?

To give a clear idea, a little of the detail
of the growth and development of flowers
is necessary. When the flower of a straw-
berry opens, around the outside edge is seen
five white leaves, called petals. One of their
functions is to attract insects to the blossoms.
Toward the centre of the flower are seen
a lot of little tubelike bodies with caps on
their heads or tops, called stamens. In these
caplike bodies are small grains of a yellow
substance, called pollen. This is the male part
of the flower and is the part that when placed,
at a certain time, on the top of the pistil
of a strawberry flower, germinates or grows,
sending down a small tube or root into the
ovary of the pistil, there uniting with the
female parts and starting the growth and
development of the seed and flesh of the
fruit. By this it is seen that to obtain
strawberry fruits, pollen must be produced
and deposited on the top of the pistil.

At the centre of the flower, underneath
the stamens, is found a collection of vaselike
structures. These are the pistils. Each
pistil develops a certain part of the flesh of

Il8 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

the fruit if properly supplied with pollen,
or pollinated. It is, therefore, seen that all
the pistils must be pollinated or deformed
fruit will result. At times, some of the
pistils are killed by frost. This gives a
deformed or lopsided fruit, the same as
produced by the lack of proper pollination.

AH varieties of strawberries have the pis-
tillate parts well developed. But some are
defective as to the stamens. The latter are
classed as "pistillate" (P.); the others as
"perfect" or bi-sexual (B.).

The question now arises, what has this
to do with the planting of strawberries?
With a clear understanding that there is
such a thing as sex in plants, then it is
possible so to plant that deficiencies in one
line or the other may be overcome.

Such pistillate varieties as Bubach, Haver-
land, Sample, Warfield, and others, should
not be planted alone, but should be mixed
or planted with such bi-sexual varieties as.
Senator Dunlap, Wm. Belt, Excelsior, Lady
Thompson, etc. — that is, plant one or two
rows of the pistillate, then one row of the
bi-sexual, and so on throughout the entire
bed. Even Glen Mary, which is a weak

PROPAGATION, BREEDING II9

bi-sexual variety, or pollen bearer, is made
to produce more by interplanting with
Wm. Belt than if planted alone.

The tendency then by interplanting with
bi-sexual varieties among pistillate varieties
is to facilitate the transfer of the pollen
from the bi-sexual varieties, by the aid of
wind, insects or other means, to the pistils
of the pistillate varieties, and in this way
fruit will be borne on plants that would
otherwise be non-productive.

This little discussion on pollination may
help to explain why many beds planted to
one variety alone have not borne fruit.

SPREAD OF POLLEN

When the flowers have opened and the
pollen is ripe for the use of pollinating,
there are several agencies that are active
in the spreading of this yellowish dust,
which is so important in the production of
fruit. Among these agencies there are two
that are very important: (i) Insects and
(2) wind.

The various insects are seen flitting from
flower to flower, perhaps taking something
from the flowers, as in the case of the honey

120 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

bee who is after nectar, but more often
doing an immense amount of good in
knocking the pollen from oiF the anthers
on to the pistils, or coating parts of their
bodies with pollen which is again deposited
in the next flower or some others visited by
the insect, thus bringing about proper polli-
nation and fruitfulness of the plant.

The winds help in knocking oiF the pollen
and carrying it to other blossoms. Both of
these agencies are nature's way of aiding
either cross or self pollinating by the flowers
and would be called the process of natural
breeding.

Providing one of the fruits which was
matured this way was used to produce new
plants from the seeds on the outside of the
berry, it would be practically impossible
to tell more than one parent of the resultant
offspring. This being the case, the new
plant would have just as much tendency
to degenerate as it would to improve. Man
has stepped in and, by a simple process, and
by his knowledge of the parents of the
offspring, and knowing just which parents
will breed together the best, has eliminated
much of the chance in breeding.

PROPAGATION, BREEDING 121

Small paper bags are put over both par-
ents, so that no possible outside pollen
can come in. The flower which is to
be the female is emasculated — that is,
the stamens which bear the pollen are
removed just at the time when the bud is
about to blossom forth as an open flower.
A small sharp implement is used, cutting
through the petals and removing all the
stamens. The blossom is then rebagged.
When the pollen is ripe on the other bagged
blossom, the bag is removed and the pollen
knocked onto a watch glass or other re-
ceptacle and this powder is immediately-
applied, by the aid of a camel's-hair brush,
to the emasculated flower so that the pistils
have suflUcient pollen for pollination and
fecundation, which results in clean, well-
shaped fruit. It may be necessary to
pollinate the flower twice to be sure of
supplying enough pollen.

The flowers are bagged at once and remain
so until the fruit has attained some size;
then the paper bag is exchanged for a mesh
bag either of very coarse cheesecloth or
mosquito netting. This latter bag remains
on until the fruit is fully matured.

122 MODERN STRAWBERRY CROWING

The fruit is picked when "dead ripe" and
the seeds may be sliced oiF with a knife,
having a small part of the flesh attached, and
planted in a flat of wet sand. After two or
three weeks, if the flats are kept in a moist,
cool condition, some of the seed will have
germinated and come up above the ground.

These small plants may be allowed to
develop until three inches high, when it is
best to transplant them into a pot of good
garden soil or plant them outdoors in the
nursery rows.

The very best care must be given during
the summer and fall, also good winter pro-
tection provided. The following spring and
summer the plants are allowed to set new
plants and to make a good growth. Fruiting
should not be allowed this year for the best
results, however; the second spring fruiting
is in order and selection of new improved
varieties should begin, following out the
selection process along the lines laid down for
pedigree plants.

The beginner in breeding should not be
disappointed if the results of breeding are
not fully up to his expectations, as the
possibility of obtaining a worthy variety is

PROPAGATION, BREEDING 1 23

becoming harder each year. It may be best
for the amateur to improve some highly
recommended variety by the process of selec-
tion, leaving the breeding to the specialist or
fancier.

Some of the common crosses made have
been McKinley x Ridgeway, Glen Mary x
Wm. Belt, Hunn x Ideal, Wm. Belt x Wild
strawberry, Ridgeway x Wild strawberry,
and so on through numberless combinations.

Observation made upon the sex of seedlings
produced by cross-breeding have been some-
what interesting.

14 seedling plants of Bubach P. z Wilson B. formed 5 with B.

blossoms and 8 with P. blosoms.
14 seedlings of Bubach P. z Wm. Belt B. formed 8 with B. blossoms

and 6 with P. blossoms.
48 seedlings of Glen Mary B. z Wm. Belt B. formed 47 with B.

blossoms and i with P. blossoms.
30 seedlings of Hunn P. z Ideal B. formed 21 with B. blossoms and

9 with P. blossoms.

Some of the bi-sexual blossoms, though,
were very weak in pollen. One of the plants
of this last cross proved quite promising
and a description of the oiFspring is here
given : (Note. The description of the parents
of these seedlings is given under Varieties
in the last chapter.)

124 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Leaves — Large, dark.

Sex — Perfect.

Season — Medium. Fruit stems numerous.

The fruit is conical in form. Size, large.
Colour, light red outside and inside. Quality
good, sub-acid. Yield, good. Fine appear-
ance.

In the cross Hunn x Ideal it was hoped
to unite or combine ideal form with late
ripening. The results, however, showed that
the plants retained the characteristic foliage
of the Hunn, being dark green, growth dwarf
but quite vigorous. Runners strong and
rugged but very few produced. The fruit was
regular in form, colour, dark red and glossy.
Flesh, dark red.. Flavour, very acid.

A cross of Wm. Belt x Wild made with
the idea of frost resistance produced quite
good results. The plants retained the char-
acteristics of the wild, setting many plants
and making a thick, matted row. Frost
resistance quite pronounced..

Colour of the fruit is bright red, seeds deep
sunken with the wild characteristic, sharp
corrugations above seeds. Flavour quite pro-
nounced of the sweet wild quality. Size
larger than wild. Some measure from | to

ill

8 1i

3 I

III

PROPAGATION, BREEDING 1 25

li inches in length and f to i inch in diam-
eter. Shape of berry is short conical with
slight neck.

One step further with this above seedling,
McKinley x [Wm. Belt x Wild] produced
a plant which showed good vigour and
disease resistance. Leaves, numerous, tall.
Sex, perfect. Season, medium. Runners,
long and quite numerous. Fruit stems
weak, short. The fruit is large in size for
a wild cross. Light red in colour. Rather
flattened conical in shape. Quality good,
still retaining some of the wild sweetness.
Frost resistance still good.

These are two very good examples of
double cross-breeding and the results show
a little of what may be expected by careful
breeding. By comparing the description
of the parents given in the last chapter of
this book with the following oiFsprings'
descriptions, more interest in the subject
will be produced.

FIRST' EXAMPLE

Variety Glen Mary x [Bubach x Wilson]
resulted in a seedling of the following de-
scription.

126 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Sex, pistillate. Season, late. Fruit, size
medium to large. Runners, long, strong.
Fruit stems, short. Leaves, large, tall, dark
green, somewhat wrinkled. Colour, bright
scarlet, attractive. Flavour, resembling
pineapple, good. Calyx, large, spreading.
Yield, medium to large. Disease resistance,
good.

SECOND EXAMPLE

Variety [Bubach x Wm. Belt] x Glen Mary.

The plant shows good vigour:

Leaves, dark green, curled. Runners, few.
Fruit stem, short, strong. Sex, bi-sexual.
Season, late.

The fruit is :

Size, very large. Colour, bright scarlet.
Quality, good, sub-acid. Form, ovate,
flattened, somewhat irregular. Calyx, de-
pressed.

Taking by selection the best of these
breeding experiments, it is possible in a few
years to obtain something quite satisfactory
and new in the strawberry world.

CHAPTER X
Scoring and Judging

This is part of the strawberry industry
that has been somewhat neglected. Many
judges base their choices for prizes more on
the package, packing, and general appear-
ance of the fruit than upon any specific
characteristic.

There should be some very careful meas-
urements made of strawberries of diflFerent
varieties until a standard for each variety
is worked out. These measurements should
embrace the following:

1. Measurement from tip of berry to
highest point of both shoulders.

2. Measurement from shoulder to shoulder.

3. Measurement of the circumference of
the shoulder.

With these measurements it would then
be possible to judge correctly the size of each
variety and the uniformity of this size.

127

128 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

A detailed study of the colours of straw-
berries should be made and a standard for
each variety given, as dark red, red, scarlet,
crimson, or some combination of these, and
have these colours conform to some com-
mercial standard.

Such characteristics of quality as acid,
sub-acid, sweet, mild, aromatic, melting,
gritty, poor, etc, should be stated, as well
as the fact that the berries mash easily or
not, or are good, medium, or poor shippers,
each one being a standard for each variety.

There has been some work done on the
shape or form of berries and there is some
conformation to the characteristic shape
of each variety of berries. It is possible,
however, to find on some plants berries
shaped like a top, and on other plants of
the same variety berries of a coxcomb
shape. By this it is seen that it is highly
important that some standard for each vari-
ety should be established, in order that in
all parts of the country strawberries of each
variety may conform to some set require-
ments and when exhibited there will be
more similarity between samples of the same
variety.

SCORING AND JUDGING

129

For quick judging of the ripe fruit, the
following card, with its scale of point, is
quite handy:

8CO&B CARD

Size of berries 20 points

Uniformity of size of berries 20 "

Colour of berries 30 "

fCommerdalj !"•"''»«**' ")
n, !•* J (Flavour 51

L (Flavour 20 J
Shape of berries ' 15 "

Total •' . . 100 points

For more detailed scoring of the whole
plant as well as the fruit the following card
is recommended:

STRAWBERRY SCORE CARD

Scale of Points Part of Plant Marshall WarjUld Dunlap

5 Blossoms

a. Staminate (many) ...

b. Pistillate (many well formed)
Productivity of plant for fruit

8 size of berry.

7 colour of berry .

5 shape of berry .

3 flavour of berry .
15 Shipping quality of fruit .
5 Rust proof or other diseases
8 Ability to produce plants .
5 Foliage Graves and stock) .
7 Drought resistancy, vitality
7 Root, large, well formed .

25 Fruit

100

Total

4.5

6.5

78 89.S 9*

130 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

These cards can easily be used as guides for
judges who have not a complete system
of classifying and scoring the fruit at the fairs
or shows. The card would be of special value
if there were a question raised by some
grower of the fruit judged, the answer, or
defect in the fruit could be readily ascer-
tained from the score card.

A good judge could go through the exhibits
of each separate variety and pick out the
few that were closely matched for first place;
then, by careful scoring, the first, second, and
so on would be readily shown.

One of the best score cards is that by
Professor Card, published in a report of
the Rhode Island Experiment Station, 1905^
and is presented herewith :

Variety

STKAWBBftftT

PloM

Scale-points lo-perfect

Vigour

Disease resistance

Frost resisunce

Ffwt

Productivenett

Appearance

Fragrance

Size

Texture

Rot resistance

Regularity
Quality

Also a good form for the description of
strawberries.

SCORING AND JUDGING I3I

DESCRIPTION

Plata

Leaves

Runners Fruit stems.

Bloom

Season Sex

Fruit

Fonn' Flavour

Colour Colour of flesh

Caljrx Core

Seeds

Position Size Colour.

Season

First Heaviest Last. .

General Notes

Date . . .
Observer

To Simplify entering the records, the fol-
lowing key was devised:

LEAVES

Number Siu

n — numerous; f— few I — ^largc; sm — small; m — medium

Height Colour

t— tall; s— short d—dark; It— light

SURFACE

r — rugose; gl — glossy; c — curled; w-wrinkled
Runners

St — strong; w— -wreak; n — numerous; 1 — long; s — short; f— few
Fruiting stems

St— strong; w— weak; 1 — long; s — short
Number of fruits
n— numerous; f— few

132 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

e — early; m — mrdipin; 1 — late

Form
i — irregular; reg — regular; oox — caxcombed; a]if-:«iigiilar;
ft — flattened; t — short; 1 — long; r — iDund; c — conic; o^
oUate; ob— oblong; of — ovate; obt — obtnae
FUnour
a — add; sub — tubadd; ft — flat; t — tweet; sp — tpii^t|f,
msk — musky.
Colour (Based on Brainard & Armstrong's cokmrtd sUks)
1 — light; d — dark; o.s. — opera scarlet; n.s. — new scarlet; t^
scarlet; car — cardinal; cr — crimson.
Cdyx
d — depressed; c— dose; r— raised; 1— large; m— medium;
s — smalL
Corr

s — solid; sp — spongy; h— hollow.
Seeds, position
r — raised; d — depressed; d.d — deeply depressed; p— prominent.

COLOUK

1— light; c — coloured; m — mixed.

CHAPTER XI
Costs, Yields, and Profits

After a careful perusal of the former
chapters of this book, it will be necessary
to give the reader some fairly definite state-
ments as to the costs, possible yields, and
profits, which may be obtained from the
business of modern strawberry growing.

This is, however, more easily said than
done, as it is next to impossible to obtain
reliable figures on these points, owing to
the fact that so few men engaged in this
business keep any exact records of the ex-
penses or returns from their crops.

There are also several other factors which
enter into the production of a good crop,
costs, and profits, such as :

1 . Good markets near by.

2. Good roads or transportation to market
— street, electric or steam.

3. Plenty of labour, at a low price, and
in the season.

133

134 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

4« Cheap land.

5. Manure or fertilizer, home-made or at
a low cost.

6. Favourable seasons for large yields

7. The man. He must have business
ability and gumption, coupled with common
sense.

To take this matter up a little more
systematically let us first consider the costs.

Letters received from the North, South,
West, and East show that the average amount
of money put into an acre of strawberries
is about $100, some returns showing as low
as $45 and as high as $150 per acre. The
majority of these estimates, however, do not
include rental or interest on cost of the land.

One of the best worked-out estimates
for one acre, valued at $200, is the follow-
ing:

Interest and taxes $ 1$

Ploughing, harrowing, etc 6

Value of 12,000 pedigreed plants at ^ per M .... 72

Manure, fifty loads at $1 per load ....... 50

Marking ground and setting plants 8

Summer cultivation p . 10

Training runners around the plants 5

Winter covering and cost of putting it on .... . 15

Taking off winter covering 5

Total $iS6

COSTS, YIELDS, AND PROFITS I35

The actual cost in money to the farmer
for just one acre would be something less
than this because, generally speaking, the
ploughing, harrowing, cultivating, marketing,
setting, training, etc, can all be done without
much, if any, outlay of cash by the farmer.
Then, if stock is kept, the manure cost
would be reduced or done away with. Also
the cost of winter covering can be greatly
reduced, as it would be but a slight expense
to raise enough rye, oat, or barley straw for
this purpose. In fact, the actual cash outlay
to the farmer would figure out something
like the following:

Taxes $ 5

Plants 7a

Winter cover (home raised) seed and fertilizer .... 8
Labour, horse and man» not any actual money outlay

Total $Ss

Added to the above cost in both cases
would be the expense of harvesting and
marketing :

8,000 qts. at 3c for picking $160.00

8,000 boxes, qt. size, at $3.50 per M, less 5% • • 26.60
250 crates, 32 qt. size, at 30c. per 100, less S% • 71*25

Toul $aS7.8s

Toul all costs figured in 443-85

Total farmer's costs 362.8s

136 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

YIELDS

The yields vary so much that no two
returns, nor two years, are alike. This is
owing to many such factors as :

1 . If the season is dry, then low yields,

2. If the season is excessively wet, especi-
ally at fruiting, yields may be large but rot
reduces the actual returns.

3. The soil has a great influence on yields.

4. Drainage and irrigation are important
for the largest yields.

5. Manure and fertilizer available at the
correct time are important factors.

6. Preparation of the soil for the crop
should not be ignored.

7. After culture, as cultivating, hoeing,
training, is required.

8. Varieties and their adaptability to the
climate, soil, etc., demand close attention.

It is easily seen that this producing of
large crops is not as easy as might be at
first considered, but by careful businesslike
methods, year in and year out, it is possible
to harvest an average high-yielding crop.

In the West, the Bederwood produces from
300 to 500 crates per acre in good seasons.
Even as high as 800 crates of certain berries,

COSTS, YIELDS, AND PROFITS 1 37

under very good systems of management and
on small tracts, are reported.

In the East Mr. Kevitt reports close to
50,000 quarts being produced per acre by
his system on his place. Others report
20,000 quarts, and these reports dwindle
down to the very low figures of 3,200 quarts
per acre, and in some cases less.

For a normal year a crop of 300 crates or
9,000 quarts per acre should be considered
a good yield, and a grower who could not
produce at least 100 crates, or 3,000 quarts
per acre, by following the instructions given
should go out of the business and follow some
other line to which he is more adapted.

PROFITS

The figures given show that the total
cost for an acre of strawberries under very
good management is ^$443. 85, with an actual
outlay of cash by the farmer or small grower
of perhaps JS362.85. A fair yield is about
8,000 quarts with a possibility of a good one of
300 crates (9,600 quarts). The average prices
in a large number of cities and towns is 12
cents a box where sold at retail, with a whole-
sale average of $2 a crate for good berries.

138 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

It must be remembered that these figures
are for good berries and do not include soft,
poor, or mushy berries, which often bring
but 50 cents a crate; nor does this price
include the fancy fruit which sells for a
premium of 5 cents to 10 cents per box.
At these figures the returns will be:

8,000 qts. (350 crates) at $2 . . . . $500. to $500.00

Minus costs total 443*85 361.85

Net profit $56.15 $X37>i5

If the berries were sold at retail the
returns would be:

8,000 qts. at I3C. $960.00 $960.00

Minus total cost 443-85 363.85

Net profit $516.15 $597.15

Some readers will think these figures are
excessively high and others will consider
them quite low, but the author^s experience
has shown that there are more in the medium
class than in either of the above classes, so
it is important that the figures should not
be of excessively low returns nor of too high
rank.

An average of the estimates show the cost
of producing a crate of berries ready for

COSTS, YIELDS, AND PROFITS 1 39

market is about jSi.oy; subtracting this from
the average wholesale price per crate, $2,
would leave a profit of 93 cents which,
multiplied by the number of crates produced,
would give the net profit :

250 crates at 93c. per crate $252.50

500 crates at 93c per crate 279.00

800 crates at 93c. per crate 744-00

These returns are far in excess of the
average of farm crops in general and they
compare very favourably with some of our
large net returning market garden crops.

CHAPTER XII

Strawberries for the Home

The home grower of strawberries has the
greatest opportunity in the world for pro-
ducing the largest size berries, the highest
quality of fruit, and the greatest quantity
per square foot, as each inch of the neces-
sarily small patch can be, and should be, un-
der his control.

The home grower will find even in the
small patch of soil that could be devoted
to strawberry raising some spots that re-
spond more willingly to very successful
production of this luscious fruit. Therefore,
he can in a limited way have some choice of
site for the bed. Many times it is possible
to make a very fine bed out of an unfavour-
able location, particularly so if artificial
methods of irrigation, drainage, supplying
humus, and other accessories are installed.

Generally speaking, the proposed bed can

140

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME I4I

not be ploughed, harrowed, etc., in the regular
way, but has to be spaded, followed by work-
ing up with a rake. Nevertheless, where the
bed is large enough, the horse work should be
done unless particular attention is desired
in soil preparation. The suggestions made
in the chapters of this book on soil prepara-
tion should be carefully followed, as should
other matters pertaining to this crop.

The majority of the beds in the home gar-
den are raised beds, that is to say, there is a
slight ditch surrounding the patch and the
soil inside this trench is higher than that out-
side.

After the bed is thoroughly prepared, the
marking out should follow, and planting
very soon after that. The best results in the
home garden, where very intensive methods
will be carried on, are obtained by the hill
system of planting. According as the bed
is neglected, the system used will approach
that of the matted row. This last system is
the least desirable for the home grounds, as it
does not correspond with the necessarily
intensive methods that should be carried on
there, nor does it produce the quality or size
of fruit that the other method will.

142 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Planting and fertilization should be the
same as spoken of in the chapters devoted
to the subject, fertilizers being reduced in
quantity to accommodate the decreased
acreage. Cultivation should be given more
often than for a larger patch. The use of
the wheel hoe is particularly recommended
for this work. This tool is so useful that by
skilful operation very little or no back bend-
ing or hand work of weeding will be necessary.
Deep cultivation is recommended at first,
with shallower work later.

Insects and disease pests can be controlled
quite easily. By using a knapsack or small
Auto spray it will be possible to spray the
plants from early season until late, with but
little expense and not extra-hard labour. A
reduction of the formulas given in this book
for larger beds will be necessary, but this is
only a question of mathematics and can be
easily solved by the home grower.

Mulching, and the winter and spring care
of the bed, as elsewhere mentioned in this
book, are very necessary and should be car-
ried out by the small grower in some detail.

As the following spring opens and the
plants begin to renew their growth, an appli-

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME I43

cation of complete fertilizer followed by one
or two smaller ones of nitrate of soda would
be very beneficial to the plant, particularly
so if it was seen to that a sufficient supply
of water was afterward added to dissolve the
fertilizer materials. More water, if nature
does not supply, should be given after the
fruit sets, as it is not possible to produce
good-sized, shapely, and quality fruit without
a continuous rapid growth. If no other form
of irrigation is available than the garden hose,
attach it to a lawn sprinkler and let it run,
changing the location of the sprinkler every
hour or so, according to how fast the soil
is wet and the kind of soil.

After all this care, who could expect any-
thing else but the highest quality straw-
berries, the kind that are prize winners at
fairs and exhibitions? The results will be
fully in accord with the labour bestowed.

AUGUST PLANTING

By planting potted strawberries in August
instead of runner plants in April One can have
bearing plants the next season, besides being
able to get a crop of peas, beans, early com,
etc., from the ground before the berries are

144 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

planted. Whether your soil be heavy or
light, trench it two spades deep, turning in a
liberal quantity of manure. When trench-
ing, always remove a pit large enough to
give you plenty of room to work, and then
throw the topsoil to the bottom of the fin-
ished bed, distributing your manure as
evenly as possible during the digging. Use
a wagonload of manure to every lOO square
feet of bed on extremely light soil, reducing
for heavier soils. Virgin soil of good texture
would require only about half this amount.

When ordering your plants be particularly
careful to get them from a reliable source; if
the soil has been shaken from the roots by
the time the plant reaches you, it is not worth
planting, for it has suffered a check and will
not bear satisfactorily the following season.

If you already have a strawberry bed you
can raise your own plants each season by
simply potting up the first runners that ap-
pear and setting them in a coldframe where
they can be shaded for a few days and care-
fully watered. For shading use frames made
of cheesecloth, which can also be used for
protecting seeds and seedlings, to prevent
lettuce from going to seed, etc. When the

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME 1 45

berry plants are well rooted, set them out in
the bed.

Mark off the bed in drills before planting,
using a line and draw hoe, so as to guarantee
straight rows. Mark off the rows two feet
apart and set the plants one foot apart in
the row. Of course, this applies only to
gardens that are to be cultivated by hand.
Be sure that the staminate and pistillate
flowering types are planted in sufficiently
close proximity to insure proper fertiliza-
tion. This is done by planting in alternate
rows. Use a trowel for planting and for
measuring the distances, most trowels being
one foot long (six-inch blade and six-inch
handle). Put the plants in a flat or small box,
after knocking them out of the pots, and drag
this along the drill, setting the plants as you
go, using the trowel to space them. If the
ground is mellow, all that need be done is to
jab the trowel into the soil and press it from
side to side until the hole is large enough to
accommodate the plant. If, however, the
bed was prepared some time ahead and the
soil has baked a little, loosen it when plant-
ing by jabbing the trowel down into it several
times where the plant is to be placed, and

146 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

twisting it. Always set the plants so that
they will be about the same height above
the ground as they were in the pot. Firm
the soil around each plant with the hand and
then go over the bed, treading down the soil
with the feet. Keep all runners removed.

Artificial watering must at times be re-
sorted to, particularly after setting the
plants. Give the soil a thorough drenching
and the following day, when the surface has
dried sufficiently, give deep cultivation.
The practice of one successful berry garden
on Long Island is given thus by Mr. W. C.
McCoUom :

"Every year I plant ten rows of berries
100 feet long — about 1,000 plants — and by
placing the new plantings alongside of the old
beds, they can be worked more economically.
I always have three beds in bearing. I throw
out a bed after it has produced a crop for
three years; after a bed has been in use for
two years I let the first runners root, so that
the oldest bed gives me the largest quantity
of berries, although they are not quite of the
same high quality as those produced by the
two newer beds. A bed of this size is suf-
ficient for a family of twelve; four people

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME 1 47

could be plentifully supplied from 400 plants
set out each year, which would give 1,200
bearing plants at the end of three years.

"I believe it is a good plan for every gar-
dener to have a few bell glasses to place over
some of the largest plants, so that they can
be forced to provide a few berries two or
three weeks earlier than the regular crop.

"A great deal depends upon the proper
care of the strawberry bed. Cultivate it
frequently, keep the runners removed, and
in extremely dry weather water it thoroughly.

"As to varieties, I would advise growing
such varieties as have proved successful in
your locality. Try some of the more promis-
ing of the new ones, if you like, but for the
greater part of your bed use the same varie-
ties that your neighbour is successfully
growing.

" Mulch the bed in fall, but wait until the
soil has frozen a little. This prevents the
constant freezing and thawing, and if you
use a good quality of manure it prevents the
bed from running down and producing poor
berries. In spring I turn the mulch right
under between the plants.

" After applying the mulch, which should

148 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

be kept from direct contact with the plants,
I cover the beds with a light covering of
meadow hay or rye straw. The common
mistake is to use too much of this; just a light
covering is all that is required. Over this lay
some pea brush to keep it from blowing away."

THE SPRING-PLANTED BED

The general routine of management of the
strawberry bed has been well described by
another successful cultivator (Mr. W. H.
Jenkins) thus:

" It is of the greatest importance that the
new strawberry bed for fruiting next year
(and which was set in spring) be kept free
from weeds. Begin cultivation before the
weeds appear. Do not wait for the ground to
bake hard, but start the cultivator while the
soil is mellow. A garden wheel hoe, with
large wheels, having such attachments as
ploughs, rakes, cultivators, teeth, etc., is the
best tool to use. For the first cultivation
put on the ploughs and run the wheel hoe
both ways between the rows of plants, which
should be at least two feet apart each way
and in check rows. Cut the soil quite deeply
between the rows each way to aerate and

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME I49

mix the fertilizer with it. Next put the
rakes on the wheel hoe and pulverize and
level the little furrows left by the plough.

" If you lack space for garden vegetables
and wish to do some intensive gardening, sow
a row of vegetables, such as early lettuce,
radishes, spinach, or some quick-maturing
crop, halfway between the rows of straw-
berries. Put the rows of strawberry plants
and the vegetables at least one foot apart.
A very good way is to mix lettuce and radish
seed and sow them. The radish will ger-
minate in about a week; then one can con-
tinue cultivation with wheel hoe. Put on
two cultivator teeth on each side of the hoe
and run them on either side of the row of
vegetables — i. e., straddle it. Clean out all
these early vegetables in June, so as not to
obstruct the cultivation of the strawberries.
If one has elsewhere in the garden plenty of
rich soil prepared for vegetables, do not plant
any crop in the strawberry rows.

" During midsummer cultivate so that
there will be a dust mulch — a fine layer of
soil on the surface — that will cause the
moisture to rise by capillary attraction. The
best way to do this with the wheel hoe is to

I50 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

use the cultivator teeth as soon as the soil
dries out after a rain, then finish with rakes,
using the hoe to cut off all weeds as soon as
they appear. Only a little hand hoeing will
be needed close around the plant. If you
keep a horse or can get one easily, horse
cultivation with a cultivator having several
small teeth is best and easiest, but this should
have been planned for when setting the
plants by making long rows two and a half
feet or more apart. I have sometimes cul-
tivated the long way of the bed with the
horse and the short way with a wheel hoe.
This makes the soil so mellow that the wheel
hoe runs very easily.

" The method of clipping and transplant-
ing runners, if any are left to grow, will de-
pend on the plan of culture you have decided
upon. For best results in hill culture, put the
plants in check rows not over two feet apart
each way; eighteen inches is better for light
soils, and for the non-stooling varieties. Hill
culture is the highest culture and the plants
require more attention. The runners must
be clipped every two or three days all sum-
mer, the plants watched closely for white
grubs which eat off the roots of the plants;

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME I5I

then the bed requires good inulching in the
fall to keep the plants alive all winter.

"If the white grub appears try the car-
bon bisulphide remedy. Just pour a table-
spoonful of the liquid on the crown of the
plant, letting it soak into the soil.

"Probably your best plan will be the
hedge-row system, which is to cut all the
runners until about July ist, when bed one
or two of the strongest runners on each plant
in the rows so as not to interfere with run-
ning the cultivator one way. After this
try to keep all runners cut, and a dust mulch
around the plants and the weeds destroyed
when they first germinate.

" It is very bad practice to dig plants
from the fruiting bed to make a new bed in
the spring. It is, however, a good thing to
make a little propagating bed quite late in
the spring, when the leaves are so large that
you can distinguish the different varieties,
using those which have proved most desirable.
One can bed all the strong, early runners at
one end of a row, placing them around the
mother plant like the spokes in a wheel and
holding them down by little stones or soil.
Keep the bed clean and late in the summer

152 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

thin out the plants so that they stand two or
three inches apart. I prefer to make the
propagating bed apart from the fruiting bed.
" In order to keep the berries from getting
very sandy, place a layer of green grass be-
tween the rows after the weeding is done.
Shallow cultivation is good for the plants
all summer, and even up to picking time.
With a heavy mulch there will be fewer weeds
and less evaporation of moisture. When
the berries are picked, mow the plants close
to the ground and cultivate between the
rows to start a new root growth and a new
growth of foliage so as to have new plants
instead of old ones for fruiting next year.**

SELECTING BERRIES FOR THE HOME

Strawberries for the home garden are
measured by a standard of their own. One
of the first considerations for market is
ability to stand transportation. This means
a degree of firmness, or perhaps of toughness,
that will stand knocking about and will keep
the berries from becoming bruised by the
jars of rough handling. Growers for market
are compelled to select such varieties, and
sometimes this consideration is carried so

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HQME 1 53

far as to annoy the purchaser, who finds he
has bought something with the texture and
consistency of a Russet apple or a slightly
modified piece of cork. It has been very
truly pointed out that all these considerations
may be ignored in selecting varieties for
home use where quality is the first object.
The more delicate the texture the better,
if only the berries, when thoroughly ripened
through and through, will not crush by care-
ful packing and gentle carriage to the house.
Mr. James Wood of New York, a man of much
experience, has ably expressed this feeling,
and makes the following recommendations,
which will help the home gardener:

"The points to be considered in valuing a
home berry are wealthfulness and vigour in
the plant, beauty of form and colour, creami-
ness of texture, and agreeable flavour. I do
not name productiveness because great pro-
ductiveness is not usually accompanied by
high quality. Where the ground in the
home garden available for strawberries is
very small, it may be advisable to seek a
variety that will give a large crop from a
small area.

"Good form is important, as it is very

154 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

desirable to have each berry a thing of beauty
when placed upon the table. To most eyes a
rather long berry with a neck between the
hull and shoulder is particularly pleasing.
Good colour is also important. Some ber-
ries, otherwise good, have a dull, dead colour
that of itself condemns them. The brighter
and clearer the colour, whether scarlet or
crimson, the better. Some of the scarlet
berries are white inside. By most people a
berry is preferred that has a bright red flesh
all through.

"Most important of all the qualities,
however, is the flavour, but for this we can
fix upon no uniform standard. Some per-
sons like an acid berry and some want a dead
sweet one, while others prefer some peculiar
flavour like that of the old French Haut-
bois or Alpine. * Every one to his own taste,'
but, whatever that is, the flavour must be
good of its kind. As a rule, a sweet berry
with a high flavour is preferred. This means
a proper mixture of sweetness and acidity,
which is the last analysis of the greatest
excellence, whether in fruits or in human
character. Fortunately the strawberry sea-
son is lengthened by the selection of early,

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME 1 55

midseason, and late varieties. It is quite
easy to make these divisions, but it is very
difficult to make a gradation of the varieties
constituting each division. A noted 'grower
was asked at a convention whether a partic-*
ular variety was not earlier than any others.
He replied, *Yes, it may be ten minutes
earlier.*

^^ Early. — ^Excelsior, Michel's Early, John-
son's Early, and Climax are among the ear-
liest varieties, and under the ten-minute
schedule they ripen in the order named.
The Excelsior is a seedling of the old Wilson's
Albany, and has many of the good qualtities
of its parent, but it has unduly developed its
degree of acidity, and we have discarded it
on that account. No one wants to squeal
when eating a strawberry. But its colour is
very fine, and no variety is better for canning,
the colour of the preserved fruit being superb.
Michel's Early is an old reliable berry,
pleasing in colour and quality. The berries
are rather undersized and the plant is not a
heavy yielder. Johnson's Early is an im-
provement on Michel's. Climax is a newer
variety, with vigorous plants and fruit of
high quality and beautiful appearance.

156 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

**Midseason. — ^The midseason varieties are
almost numberless. The Cumberland is
valuable. It is very sweet, having so little
acidity that invalids, and those who cannot
take acid fruit, may eat it with impunity.
William Belt is good, with a glossy red colour
and fine flavour. Nick Ohmer is large in
size, of high quality and beautiful colour;
its foliage is very handsome. Among the
later of the midseason sorts is the Brandy-
wine, with an established reputation. The
plants are about perfect in character, and are
uniformly good bearers in almost every soil.
It holds its fruit well from the ground; the
berries are large, of fine flavour and good
colour. If we could have but one variety
it would unquestionably be the Brandywine.

"Among the well-known midseason ber-
ries are some which the home gardener had
better avoid. The old Sharpless is one of
these, being ill shaped, often coxcombed,
and ripens with a white tip which condemns
any sort. Another is the much recom-
mended Glen Mary, which is too large in
size for beauty or excellence, is ill shaped,
and also ripens with a white tip.

" Late. — In the late varieties we find the

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME 1 57

greatest excellence of flavour. In the North,
where there happens to be limited space,
so that there is not room for many sorts, it
is well to purchase the early supply for the
family and devote all the energies to the
superb later kinds. First among these we
place the Marshall. It is the gentleman's
berry. It is not so prolific as the Brandy-
wine and some others, but it fully makes up
for this in other qualities. The plants are
good; the berries are large and well shaped;
the colour is very dark and rich, and the
same all through the flesh; the consistency
is about perfect, and the flavour seems to
suit every taste. Every family should grow
the Marshall. Upon clay soils the Gandy
is very valuable; the plants are fine; it is a
good bearer and the colour is very bright and
pleasing. The flesh is a trifle too firm for a
perfect family berry. This variety should not
be used the day it is picked. If placed in a
room of moderate temperature for twenty-
four hours its flavour becomes properly
developed and its quality greatly improved.
The Rough Rider is a vigorous late sort of
real excellence. The berries are a bright
glossy red, of good form and good quality.

158 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Few of the late varieties have given us more
satisfaction than Midnight. It is extra
large, extra handsome and extra good. At
our family table it is asked for in preference
to most others. All the varieties here
mentioned have perfect flowers, and, there-
fore, are self-fertilizing.

HOW TO GROW THEM

"While some varieties do best on a sandy
soil, and others on a clay, nearly all of them
will succeed upon an ordinary loam, whether
light or heavy. Where various soils are
at commend it is well to plant the different
varieties where they will do the best; and as
a rule the early varieties will be most satis-
factory on sandy soil. The soil should be
rich and the cultivation deep and thorough.
The question of manure depends entirely
upon the richness of the soil. Where the soil
is poor well-rotted manure should be used
in ^ufiicient quantities to supply an abun-
dance of plant food. Where artificial ma-
nures are used it is well to remember that for
the weaker-growing varieties nitrogen should
be given, say, in the form of nitrate of soda.
But this should not be used for the strong-

STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME 1 59

growing sorts. Potash heightens the colour
of the fruity and generally adds to its flavour.
Wood ashes is the best means of supplying
potash. A light dressing of Peruvian guano
is a good general-purpose fertilizer.

"For a complete fertilizer for strawberries,
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in the
ratio of 3, 7, and 9 per cent, is recommended,
or nitrate of soda, 150 pounds, bone meal, 550
pounds, wood ashes, 1,400 pounds to the acre.

"The matted-row system involves less
labour than hills, gives a great yield of ber-
ries, without the fine development of the hill
system. The plants are set two feet apart,
with five feet between the rows. The run-
ners are allowed to cover the ground, being
assisted in proper distribution by being
placed in the vacancies by hand. These
plants cover one or two feet in width, the
remaining space between the rows being well
cultivated. Where plants are set too thickly
they are removed with a pointed hoe. The
next season before fruiting the ground be-
tween the rows should be well mulched with
litter.

"With either system it is well to cover the
plants lightly with stable litter early in

l6o MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

winter after the ground becomes frozen. In-
jury from mould may result if the covering is
applied too early. Fall planting is not a suc-
cess as a general rule, especially on heavy
soils. Spring is the best time to plant, and
don't let the plants bear a crop the first
year if you want the best possible results
from them. Concentrate all the force in
the second year and then clear off the bed."

IN THE HOME GARDEN

THE ALPINE STRAWBERRY

CHAPTER XIII
Alpine Strawberries

Some interest among home growers of
strawberries has been manifested in the grow-
ing of the Alpines. This is especially true in
the case of those who have journeyed to con-
tinental Europe and to England. In the
markets of Paris, London, Liverpool, and
other smaller cities and towns, strawberries
resembling our native wild berries but larger
in size are served in the hotels and restau-
rants, and from their very pleasing taste
they have caused many people in returning
to this country to try the growing of this so-
called Alpine or perpetual strawberry.

In Fuller's classic "The Strawberry Cul-
turist," is an interesting account of this berry
which is here quoted:

" The Alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is
noted for its delicious perfume and its very
mild flavour. None of the varieties yield
very large berries. However, they are quite

z6x

1 62 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

prolific, thriving in positions which are ex-
posed to the cold, where, if other varieties or
species were subject to the same conditions,
they would die. In Europe there are a large
number of varieties in cultivation. Euro-
pean nurserymen in their catalogues quote
or give prices on many of these strawberries
which may be grown as a specialty. How-
ever, the names used in these catalogues are,
in most cases, nothing more than synonyms;
and by reducing these to possible distinct
varieties of this species iji Europe, it would
probably not exceed a dozen really distinct
varieties. In these European countries,
however, there are four really distinct vari-
eties, all of which have been under culti-
vation there and have been known for a
long time in this country. The first of
these is the Red Bush Alpine. This, as the
name implies, produces no runners, and
therefore must be propagated by divisions.
This plant is an ever-bearer, generally pro-
ducing from June until checked by frost in
autumn. In exceedingly rich soil it is pos-
sible for this plant to yield well throughout
the entire season. The fruit is medium size,
conical in shape, a bright red colour, seeds

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES 1 63

quite prominent, not sunken as is usual in
the common strawberry, of very mild flavour
with a delicate perfume. The second variety
is the White Bush Alpine. Excepting the
colour of the fruit, which is pure white, it has
every characteristic of the previously de-
scribed variety. The third variety is the
Red Monthly Alpine. This plant produces
runners quite freely. The new plants pro-
duced on these runners will bloom and bear
throughout the first season. In this way it
is possible to keep up a succession of straw-
berries from June until the fall. The fruit
is very similar to the Bush Alpines. How-
ever, it is a little larger. The fourth variety
is the White Monthly Alpine. There is very
little difference between this variety and the
Red Monthly, except that the fruit of this
is pure white in colour. The great value of
this strawberry is for a conservatory plant
where the runners make a very desirable pot-
ted plant, trailing over wire screens or hang-
ing from baskets or boxes in the window
garden.'*

In The Garden Magazine, May, 1911, Mr.
H. S. Adams writes appreciatively of this
same type of strawberry as follows:

164 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

" It was within a week of the close of July
last year when I came upon a large bed of
these berries. I was on a flower quest that
hot and sultry day, and I confess that the
last thing I expected to be offered was straw-
berries. But I was offered some, right from
the plants, and ate thereof with a satisfac-
tion that was a satisfaction.

"Then I began asking many questions; I
ascertained, first of all, that these long rows
of very flourishing strawberry plants, with a
considerable amount of ripe and ripening
fruit on them, were all seedlings. The seed
had been picked in Switzerland by the grower,
from plants of the *Quatre Saisons' type.
This is the small strawberry that is so abun-
dant in Paris, where it is no uncommon
sight to see the little hand-carts of street
vendors piled high with the much admired
fruit. It is simply one of the Alpine varie-
ties bred up in size and general perfection.

"I found also that from this patch of
* Four'Seasons' the family had been kept fully
supplied with fruit all through July — the
Alpines coming in when the ordinary garden
berries gave out. The fruit, which is a sort
of glorified edition of the American wild

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES 165

Strawberry, has the same concentrated
sweetness, but more of it. Being different
from the ordinary cultivated strawberry, it
has the advantage of coming to the table
with a note of freshness — inaugurating a
little season of its own rather than extend-
ing a season already, perhaps, beginning to
pall on the appetite.

"The plants, which run about eight inches
high, began to bear last year on the 23d of
June, and were picked for the table every
day for four weeks. So that, if they are not
strawberries of *four seasons' literally, they
have an unusually long fruiting period.
They are very prolific, and very hardy. In
short, they seem to have everything to recom-
mend them to the average home garden,
with nothing to be said adversely.

"This strawberry is grown in somewhat
lighter soil than the ordinary kind. Plenty
of manure is used when the plants are first
set out, and then no more until a new bed is
made. The plants fruit the first year, but
much better the second. They are good for
three years. By setting out runners every
year, after the first, a complete succession
of prime bearing plants is insured.

1 66 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

"While seed may be used to get a stock of
plants started, runners are a better means of
perpetuation after that. Sow seed in early
spring. With the American winter as it is,
very little is gained by autumn sowing, and
always there is danger of mice injuring the
plants. In either case the seed should be
sown in a coldframe; but it may be sown
outdoors in well-pulverized soil in April or
May. Sow in a greenhouse in January.
There are some varieties of Alpine straw-
berries that have no runners ; these must be
perpetuated by dividing the plants or by
seed.

"Of the ^Quatre Saisons * type alone there
are several varieties. In the experience of
the grower of the strawberries referred to,
these are the best of them at one time or
another. They are the most reliable, and
that is the main point.

"One of the finest of the improved *Four
Seasons' type is, he says, the Louis Gauthier
— now popular in France. It is large,
whitish, and very sweet. There are some
Alpines very rich in flavour, actually white
rather than merely whitish, and they are
quite as easily grown.

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES 167

"After a trial in both the Berkshires and
central Connecticut, the grower mentioned
(Mr. J. F. Huss) has abandoned the variety
known at St. Joseph. It has fine fruit but
— for his use ; others may do better with it —
he says that it does not bear abundantly
enough to warrant the time and space given
to it. This early variety is between the
Alpine and garden types and is, I understand,
synonymous with Fragaria rubicunda. It
is practically perpetual, fruiting from June
to September when the conditions are ideal.
An improvement on it is called St. Antoine
de Padoue. It has a musky flavour, and some
do not care for it on that account. In Eng-
land Belle de la Perrandiere is very highly
recommended by one of the best authorities.
It is an Alpine and there fruits in September.

"The St. Joseph and the St. Antoine de
Padoue are sold in this country, each with
the claim that it bears fruit of fine flavour,
colour, and size, and in abundance. Two
other varieties offered are Leon XIII and La
Constante. They cost more than the ordi-
nary garden berry — one dollar a dozen.
Seed of the ordinary *Red Alpine' straw-
berry is quoted at ten cents a package.

l68 MODERN STKAWBER&T G&OWIKG

''Alpine strawberries ordinarily ought to
be sweet enough to eat without sugar. If
anything is put on them, it would better be
a little claret."

In selecting berries for seed planting, they
should be allowed to get fully ripe before
they are gathered. On picking them, they
should be crushed, and thoroughly mixed
with forty to fifty times their bulk of clean,
dry sand. This sand iprill have a tendency to
separate the seeds and also absorb the juice
of the fruit. A flat of mobt, sharp sand
should be ready and the seeds with the sand
should be planted in shallow furrows or
sprinkled over the surface and lightly raked
in. The flat is then thoroughly watered and
placed below the bench in the greenhouse or
in the propagating house, hotbed, coldframe
or any suitable place of this kind.

If the planting be made in the middle
of July, young plants may be expected to
appear during the first week in August, if
the sashes have been kept closed and the
soil well wetted every day. As soon as the
young plants appear in numbers they should
be shaded. This is best done by whitening
the glass. The frames may then be kept

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES 1 69

closed a good part of the time, and the seed-
lings will grow so vigorously that they will
bear transplanting in a few weeks to the bed
where they are to remain and fruit. This
method is well adapted for bringing seedling
vines into bearing in the shortest possible
time, as they get a very strong growth the
first year.

The seedlings should be transplanted into
beds of rich earth, encouraged to make stout,
stocky plants, and to this end they should
not be allowed to make more than one or at
most two runners.

The seedlings may be set in the bed where
they are to fruit, in rows two feet apart,
with the plants eighteen inches asunder in the
rows. If space is limited, the rows may be
narrowed six inches, and the plants brought
six inches nearer each other in the rows. If
one or two runners are allowed to grow, they
should be made to take root close to the
parent plant.

The propagation of Bush Alpine is by
division, as they do not produce runners.
To propagate these varieties the old stools
should be lifted early in spring and divided,
leaving only one or two crowns to a plant.

170 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

If the old or central stems are very long, the
lower or older part may be cut away, leaving
only the upper and younger roots attached.
In setting out again, the crown of the plant
should be just level with the surface of the
soil in order that new lateral roots may spring
out above the old ones on the central stalk
or stem.

Monthly Alpines are very valuable for
forcing, as they will thrive in a lower tem-
perature than those of other species, and,
with ordinary care, will continue to bloom
and bear fruit all the year round. Fruit is
not produced in any great abundance at
any one season, but, the crop being a con-
tinuous one, it amounts to a pretty fair
quantity during the year. As an ornamental
window or greenhouse plant there are very
few bearing edible fruit worthy of more care
or attention than the Monthly Alpine straw-
berry.

This Alpine type of strawberry should be
encouraged among those who have the taste,
capital or time, and the inclination. It is
a valuable adjunct to the larger field of
strawberry raising.

CHAPTER XIV

Fall-bearing Strawberries

The recent development of a group of
varieties that would yield ripe fruits in the
fall was looked upon with much interest by
many admirers of the strawberry who saw
great possibilities in their successful culti-
vation. Naturally the question is asked:
Are these different from ordinary kinds or
is this a new type of strawberry ? The only
difference noted between the common and
fall-bearing kinds is that the latter have
the characteristic of seemingly continu-
ous bearing, or blossoming from May until
the end of the growing period of the year.
If the blossoms that first set are picked
from fall-bearing varieties, another lot of
blossoms will be produced in a few weeks.
Continuing this method, blossoms will be
borne as long as the growing period of the
year permits. With the ordinary berries,

171

172 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

it is very unlikely that other flowers will
appear later, if the first lot is picked.

These berries are practically a new race
or type, the first of which, named Pan-
American, originated on a farm in Catta-
raugus County, New York, Mr. Samuel
Cooper being the discoverer. While examin-
ing his beds of strawberries, in 1898, he was
attracted by a parent plant and several
young runner plants which were producing
at this late season both blossoms and fruit.
Mr. Cooper is not able to account for the
freak o' nature. The parent plant, however,
was in with a lot of Bismark plants, and is
undoubtedly a sport of this variety, as the
Pan-American has a great many of the
characteristics of this parent.

Mr. Cooper, by the sowing of the seed of
the Pan-American, was able to produce
other varieties. The first seedling of value,
although not of much more value than the
Pan-American, was the Autumn, a pistillate
variety. It was possible by using the former
(which has perfect blossoms) and the latter
to crossbreed and obtain varieties that were
of more value. The results are seen in
Productive and Superb, two berries which

FALL-BEARING STRAWBERRIES I73

are a great improvement over their parents.
It is reasonable to expect more and improved
varieties from Mr. Cooper's valuable experi-
ence.

Besides Mr. Cooper, several others are
working on these fall-bearing varieties.
Mr. Louis Huback of Arkansas; Mr. Edwin
H. Riehl of Illinois; Mr. L. J. Farmer of
Pulaski, N. Y., and others have been experi-
menting and raising seedlings. Mr. Harlow
Rockhill, however, is perhaps the man that
has secured the most marked practical results.
Two of the best of his seedlings, Francis and
Americus, have proved remarkably success-
ful. They are a decided advance over all
former fall-bearing varieties.

NEW VARIETIES

New varieties are obtained as described
in the chapter on "Breeding." The method
used by Mr. Cooper in raising his new varie-
ties may be of interest :

He first makes the crosses, then gathers
the fruit when fully ripe and mushes it to
a pulp and mixes with sand. A smooth piece
of soil is selected in the garden, and the seeds
sown there in July or early in the fall. They

174 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

are gently stirred into the soil with a garden
rake. A wide board is laid over the place
where the seeds are sown, and left on until
spring. Some of the seedlings will show
in the fall, but most of them will not come
up until spring. The board is put on to
keep the weeds from growing and the seeds
moist so they will sprout. Of course the
board is removed in the spring. The young
seedlings will come up very thickly and
will have to be separated and given more
room. It may be necessary to transplant
them several times. Finally, they are set
out the usual distance in the ^eld and allowed
to grow and fruit. Some of them will show
fruit the first year, but most of [them will
have to be carried over until the following
season.

After the seedlings are produced, they
need to be fruited and selected for ad-
vancement. This judging of improvement
in new varieties requires great skill, and
that is the result of experience.

SOIL

The best soil in the garden should be
selected for the fall berries. There should

FALL-BEARING STRAWBERRIES I75

be plenty of humus in this soil, and enough
plant food to grow the plants properly as
well as to produce a full crop of juicy fruit.
It is of particular importance that the ques-
tion of moisture have very careful con-
sideration, as at the season of this plant's
blossoming and subsequent fruiting it is oft-
times quite dry. If necessary, some form of
irrigation, as spoken of in another chapter,
should be practised.

PLANTING

The planting of the fall-bearing straw-
berries does not differ materially from that
of the more common varieties. Being,
however, a newer type, and in some cases
a test or experiment, it is advisable to
start carefully, and to fol low a somewhat in-
tensive system of planting, such as the single
or double hedge-row method. These methods
are also suitable as these fall varieties do
not have a tendency to produce many plants.

CULTURAL METHODS

Clean culture and intensive work, the
methods considered in another chapter,
should be the system employed with these

176 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

varieties of strawberry plants for the best
results. Mulching with straw should be
practised during the winter. The blossoms
have to be picked from the plants every two
or three weeks up to the first of August,
then they are allowed to produce fruit.
September ist, or thereabout, should be
the date when mature, edible berries are
ready for picking. This picking should be
looked after quite carefully, as sometimes
it becomes necessary to pick the fruits before
they have coloured up much, or they will rot
on the plant. The first berries, owing to
the greater amount of sunlight, will have
better colour and correspondingly better
flavour. Later, owing to the cold weather,
and the lack of sunlight, the flavour and
colour will be less satisfactory. If the
fruit is produced for the markets, it should
be very carefully sorted and graded, in order
to receive the highest price paid for this
out-of-season product.

YIELDS

Owing to the fact that there are no large
areas of fall strawberries, it is practically
impossible to give any idea of just what

■gs

111

141

FALL-BEARING STRAWBERRIES \^^

the yield should be. Perhaps if the suburb-
anite or farmer had fifty plants in his garden
he might have reason to expect twelve to
fifteen quarts of fall berries, in some cases
more, and, under other circumstances, less.
These berries would sell at this time for at
least 25 cents per quart, and if properly
graded more would be paid. It would be
natural to expect a high price for the product,
not only because it is out of season, but
because the production of the fruit costs
more, as there is the increased expense
over the ordinary growing of strawberries
of picking off the blossoms, and, perhaps,
better cultural methods. However, there
is one advantage that would have a tendency
to counterbalance the above — i. e., it is
possible to plant fall-bearing strawberry
plants early in the spring, and, by the best
of care, fertilizer, water, etc., to produce
fruit in the jail of the same year^ thereby
receiving returns in a shorter period than
from the ordinary sorts.

It is not advisable for people blindly to buy
or invest large sums in these fall berries;
the best plan being to try a few and find out
their peculiarities, then increase the area

178 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

only if the demand warrants it. The farmer
or suburbanite, however, can add much to
the enjoyment of living by trying out a few
of these varieties, and having the fresh prod-
ucts for his own use in the "out-of-straw-
berry" season.

CHAPTER XV

What Is the American Strawberry?

The strawberry has only received much
attention during the last seventy-five or one
hundred years. The first variety of which
we have any account is the Fressant, which
dates from 1660. There are but few wild
species of strawberries, and only some few of
these ten or twelve species have been brought
into cultivation.

The European common wild strawberry
includes both the Annual and Monthly
Alpines, as well as the White and Red Wood
strawberries. The former are indigenous to
North America, being found quite plenti-
fully from the east northern states, also
westward to the Rocky Mountains, where
they grow in the cooler regions and on the
more elevated places. These Alpines do
not produce runners to any eztent, but grow
in stools or clumps. The fruit produced

179

l80 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

is small, oblong or sharp-pointed, having
varieties that are either red or white. The
plants are thin and very slender, with leaflets
of a pale-green colour. This was of the
type of our first strawberries quite similar to
the Fressant.

These European types, which are grown
in some parts of continental Europe, especi-
ally in France and Switzerland, are, however,
in England and America, but little more than
rarities or curiosities. This being the case,
it is more desirable to direct attention to the
class of large American and European straw-
berries. This latter type, although profit-
ably grown in all temperate countries, seems
to have come to great prominence first in
England, where considerable experimenting
was done. It is furthermore the only Ameri-
can market strawberry.

The common small species of eastern
America, which is known to botanists as
Fragaria Virginianay was the first foreign
strawberry to reach Europe. Mention, as
well as the first distinct record of this event,
was made in 1624 by Jean and Vespasian
Robin, who were at that time gardeners to
Louis XIII. No new or striking forms were

THE AMERICAN STRAWBERRY l8l

taken by this strawberry during the following
one hundred years. From the description,
that it bore small, bright scarlet berries,
with a distinct neck or constricted area near
the stem and more or less slightly acid flesh,
it is probable that it was not very different
from the common wild strawberries which
are found in the fields of the Northeastern
States. This berry met with great favour
in England, but on the continent it was not
considered of any value.

About 171 2 a second species of strawberry
reached Europe. Captain Frezier brought
from Chile to Marseilles a strawberry that
is named botanically Fragaria Chikensis.
It was not until 1724 that this fruit reached
England. This plant, which is a shaggy,
thick-leaved, stout individual, bearing large,
dark-coloured, somewhat pointed, globular
fruit late in the season, did not meet
with great favour, particularly so as the
flowers were often imperfect, thereby lacking
the self-pollinating benefits. However, in
a few places, especially at Brest in France,
it was after a time grown and cultivated
for its fruit.

Barnet in writing about this berry a hun-

1 82 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

dred years later knew of but three varieties
in England that he could in any way refer
to it. One of these three, he considered,
had not changed from the original plant as
brought from Chile by Frezier. In fact, at
this date it seemed to be very little cultivated.

This species, which grows wild along the
Pacific Coast in both South and North
America, has been introduced from these
sources into the gardens of the eastern
United States several times. However, it
has very soon disappeared.

The fact then presents itself that there is
very little of promise in the record of this
species for the horticulturist of this country.

Between the years 1750 and 1760, or
thereabout, a third strawberry appeared
in Europe. The exact date of its intro-
duction is not known, contrary to the opinion
of many writers. Philip Miller in 1760
describes it as the Pine strawberry, referring,
no doubt, to the pineapple fragrance of its
fruit.

Three distinct reports as to its origin were
in circulation; the first gave Surinam, which
is now on the coast of Dutch Guiana, as its
home. This opinion was one that came

THE AMERICAN STRAWBERRY 1 83

from Holland. Another report gave credit
to Virginia, and still another claimed that
it came from Louisiana. Not one of these
reports has been either corroborated or con-
futed.

Upon comparing the Pineapple straw-
berries of England and France, they were
found to be different from each other. The
difference was not greatly marked, and the
majority of botanists in a few years came
to regard the two as variations such as
might arise within the limits of one stock
or type.

This type of Pine strawberry has been
known for over a century as Fragaria gran-
diflorUy although this name, which was given
it by Ehrhart in 1792, together with the
English name Pine, is fast passing out of use.
Duchesne established it in a distinct species,
named Fragaria calyculata. This species was
represented by the Bath Scarlet, a large
hulled type.

Besides the above three theories as to the
origin of the Pipe strawberry, there are at
least two other hypotheses that must be
taken into consideration. One has the
acknowledged certification of Duhamel, De

184 MODERN STRAWBEULT GROWING

CandoUe, and Guy, that it is an absolute
modification of the Chilean strawbeny.
The other was brought forth by Decaisne,
and quite readily accepted by others, that
some, at least, of the varieties of this straw-
berry are the offspring or variations of the
large, robust native form of the species
Fragaria Firginianaj van lUiwtnsisj our wild
strawberry.

We must, however, determine from what
progenitor type our cultivated strawberries
have sprung. In 1824, according to the
writings of Bamet, he divides all cultivated
strawberries into seven classes. The first (i)
of these is the Scarlet or Virginian strawberry
with twenty-six varieties; the second (2) is
Duchesne's Fragaria tincta or black straw-
berry, with five varieties ; third (3), the Pines
or Pineapple strawberry, with fifteen varieties;
fourth (4), the True Chile strawberry, with
three varieties. The remaining three classes
comprise the small European varieties. These
latter will not be considered, as they are
outside of the question. It is possible to
class the Blacks and Pines as one, owing
to their being so much alike. This last
class, although the youngest, had already

THE AMERICAN STRAWBERRY 1 85

varied into more than twenty forms, many of
which were the choice of all the varieties. One
of these, in the extra choice class, was Keen's
Seedling, which was at this time just coming
into great importance. This variety was,
in fact, the first worthy contribution to our
present commercial strawberry culture, and
an epoch maker. It was produced from the
seed of Keen's Imperial, this latter being
raised from the White Carolina, or Large
White Chile. Barnet regards this last as
a true Pine strawberry.

The present English strawberries have to
a great extent descended from Keen's Seed-
ling. In 1 82 1, at London, the fruit of this
seedling was first shown. There were appar-
ently few, if any, varieties in England at
this time that were of American origin.
In 1828, Prince writes, of the thirty straw-
berries in American gardens, all but one were
of foreign origin. The two most important
varieties, as well as the ones which supplied
practically all of the fruit sold in the New
York market, were Red Chile (which is
classed by Barnet and Lindley with the
Pines) and Early Hudson (which was un-
doubtedly a variety of Fragaria Virginiana).

1 86 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Hovcy, as well as other writers, claimed that
Keen's berries, although on the market list,
did not thrive well in the United States.
Hovey wrote in 1837 that "as yet the plants
of nearly all the kinds in cultivation have
been introduced from the English gardens,
and are not suited to the severity of our
climate/'

Mr. Hovey, who was a very shrewd man
and a practical breeder of rare ability,
decided to produce a berry that would be
satisfactory in our climate. He selected
parents which showed the best adaptation
to American conditions, and which repre-
sented his distinct high ideals.

By crossing two Pines, Keen's Seedling
and Mulberry, also Melon, which was
undoubtedly a Pine, and Methven Scarlet,
a variety of the Virginian, he was able to
obtain two varieties, which he named Hovey
and Boston Pine. Mr. Hovey lost his labels
on these crosses, and it is not positive just
which crosses gave these varieties. However,
he was always quite certain that the Hovey
was the result of Mulberry crossed by Keen's
Seedling.

This Hovey strawberry was an epoch

THE AMERICAN STRAWBERRY 1 8/

maker, just in the same way as was the Keen's
Seedling. It practically marks the second
great step in the advancement of commercial
strawberry growing.

From this time on new American varieties
began to appear, the greater part of them
being direct descendants of Hovey and the
Boston Pine. However, the majority came
from the former. The latter and its immedi-
ate offspring soon passed out, and to-day in
American strawberry literature the term
Pine has been practically lost. This is not
because the Pine class has become extinct,
but, quite to the contrary, the Pine class
has driven out all other classes, and has
become the dominant one. The Hovey is a
fine example of a true Pine, with its thick,
rounded, dark leaves, stocky habit, stiff
flower cluster, and large, spreading calyx.
Practically all of our commercial straw-
berries of to-day are Pines, and they compare
well in botanical characters with the impor-
tant Pines of Barnet's time, such as the Bath
Scarlet, as well as the Fragaria grandiflora of
the French gardens of seventy-five or one
hundred years ago.

If these things are true, then our straw-

1 88 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

berries are lineal descendants of the botani-
cally known Fragaria ananassa and Fragaria
grandiflora or common old Pine class.

The question now arises, "What is a Pine
strawberry?" Bailey in studies on this sub-
ject, in order to determine for himself, sent
to Oregon for wild plants of Fragaria ChiUtn-
sis. These were quite easily distinguished
from ordinary garden strawberries, owing
to the fact that they were short, stocky,
thick-leaved, hairy evergreen plants. After
two years of close observation he was able
to find a remarkable difference between a
pressed plant of the Oregon species and
plants of the same species that had been
under cultivation during this period. In
fact, the characteristics of the wild plants
under culture had changed so much that it
was quite difficult to recognize them from
ordinary garden sorts. This change was
brought about undoubtedly by the variation
induced through the changed environment
of the plant. It is a well-known fact that
such is the case in other plants. If artificial
selection is then given, plants may be changed
to a still greater degree.

De CandoUe, Seringe, and others about

THE AMERICAN STRAWBERRY 1 89

1825 held the opinion that the Pine, Bath
Scarlet, and Black strawberries all belonged
to the F. Chilcensis. The Dutch gardeners
also held this idea, as well as the Dutch mer-
chants who sold the Pine strawberries under
the name of Fragaria Chilcensis ananaformis.
Duhamel also claimed that the seeds of the
F. Chilcensis would produce the Pine straw-
berry.

The conclusion, therefore, is that the gar-
den strawberries, although greatly changed
or modified, are direct descendants of the
Fragaria Chilcensis^ or Chile strawberry.

CHAPTER XVI

Varieties for Special Purposes

One of the first questions asked by any
person who is thinking of growing straw-
berries is not how to plant them, or fertilize
them or otherwise care for them, but rather
which variety to plant. In talks between
neighbours, be they farmers or suburbanites,
it is always, "My * * * strawberries are
doing fine, they are extremely large, juicy, and
a banner crop." Also when a friend is visiting
and there are strawberries to be inspected,
the first question is, "What variety is that?"

It does seem from the above (and the au-
thor's experience in both growing and selling
plants and berries supports this), that one of
the first and most important questions is
that of what variety to choose.

One of the first considerations in the
choice of varieties is personal taste. This
personal taste, however, would have more

190

atsattm

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES I9I

leeway in a private fruit garden than in a
large commercial place, but, for success in
growing strawberries in either case, it is a very
important factor. Some individual's taste
is for a deep red berry with considerable
length from hull to tip; another wants a
berry the same colour and wider than it is
long, or coxcomb. A third person desires
a berry with a broad-shouldered top, a me-
dium large, well-placed calyx or hull, and
a gradual rounding, top-shaped appearance,
the stem and calyx to remain a bright green
and the berry to be from a light crimson to a
deep rich scarlet, the seeds being slightly red
and not over conspicuous. A berry like the
Sample, Lady Thompson or Warfield would
seem to answer very nearly to this descrip-
tion.

There are other characteristics as to shape
of berries, size of berries, colour of berries,
shipping qualities, size and colour of calyx,
and also seeds as well as conspicuousness of
both, which are taken into consideration in
selecting a variety for planting.

Besides these exterior appearances, a large
number of people consider the flavour, from
very acid or tart to nearly the sweetness of

192 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

the native wild fruit. It is a fact that some
people would not think they were eatings
strawberries without a rather tart flavour
being given, while others have gone so far in
their demands that the berries must have
more of the sweet wild flavour, that breeders
have tried to obtain a berry of large size,
containing one eighth to one half or more of
the wild in its makeup, and this wild quality
must be given in increased sweetness of the
berry.

As well as the flavour, the quality of the
flesh is a personal taste, whether the flesh
is fine grain, of one solid colour or with a dark
rim and light toward the centre, having also
the quality of mashing easily (making a poor
shipper but a good home berry), or whether
it is coarse flesh of solid colour or not, and a
good, hard shipper. There is generally some
coordination between the poor shipper, a
fine-grained berry with increased sweetness,
and the good shipper, a coarser berry with
increased acidity.

As was said just before, these factors of
personal taste in strawberry raising are
greater for the home grower, as his gar-
den is the direct result of individual likes

TT-JT^SVS. ■ ' «-l ■

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 1 93

and dislikes. Commercially, these factors do
not enter in so much, as far as the grower
is concerned, but are the direct results
of the popular demand in the markets catered
to, and of course this demand is more or less
made up of the personal taste of the buyers.
The large grower may, however, force, in a
manner, the sale of a berry of his choice
by many of the factors of sale, such as
more attractive package, correct packing,
and better advertising. Nevertheless, as k
general rule, the commercial grower must
have a berry the colour and quality of the
markets' demand, and this berry must be a
good shipper as well as a large producer of
good-sized fruit.

In a careful study of the various marketis
of our country, it has been found that first-
class, well-packed attractive package straw-
berries are, practically without an exception,
never over supplied, but there is at times,
in some of the markets, an oversupply of
lower grades of fruit, which tends toward
a glutted market, and a decreased price for
even the high-priced number one fruit.

The best advice to the commercial grower
is, study the demands of your market, then

194 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

get a variety that will supply this demand
and keep up your standards of berry, pack-
age, and packing, preferring rather to ship
your seconds to a more distant market or to
the cannery, rather than have them compete
with, and thereby reduce, the price of your
fancy fruit. Canneries are glad to obtain
the fruit that is grown for the general
market.

Proper pollination of the fruits is one of
the great factors of successful strawberry
growing. Very few people realize that
there is a difference in the flowers of straw-
berries.

It is very fortunate that practically all
the commercial growers of plants state in
their catalogues whether or not a plant pro-
duces (P) pistillate or (B) bi-sexual flowers,
thereby saving the grower value, time, and
money.

No attempt is here made to present a
complete catalogue of present-day varieties,
and new ones come along each season. I
have, however, taken note of the best vari-
eties as I see things, and these tables are
offered as guides rather than as unalterable
facts.

WEATHER AND FRUIT PROSPECTS

Above: Bloaioma of Glen Mary u produced in doudy weather — no pollen.

Belo»: Bloiiomi of ume variety produced in sunny weather — plenty □(

etaireni and pollen, which make fruit later on

STRAWBERRY FLOWERS

Kck off the blosspms the first yeac 'f you ""c

lower phinoKraph shows how the bloom of i

are, in order from the top lelt: Marshall, C

GUn Mir

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES I95

ADAPTED FOR HOME PLANTING

Americus

Helen Davis

Autumn

Klondike

Bederwood

Marshall

Brandyrtdne

Michel's

Cardinal

Pan-American

Qyde

Productive

Francis

Sample

Gandy

Senator Dunlop

Glen Mary

Texas

Haverland

Wm. Belt.

ADAPTED FOR COMMERCIAL PLANTING

(Not Canning)

Brandymne

Klondike

Bubach

Lady Thompson

Cardinal

Michel's

Chesapeake

Parson's Beauty

Qyde

Sample

Excelsior

Senator Dunlop

Gandy

Stevens

Glen Mary

Texas

Haverland

Warfield

Helen Davis

Wm. Belt

Highland

Wilson

ADAPTED FOR CANNING

Brandymne

Parson's Beauty

Bederwood

Texas

Clyde

Warfield

Haverland

Wilson

VERY GOOD SHIPPERS

Cardinal

Michel's

Gandy

Parson's Beauty

Glen Mary

Sample

Helen Davis

Texas

Warfield

196 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

GOOE

> SHIPPERS

Brandjrwine

Marshall

Bubach

Productive

Chesapeake

Senator Dunlop

Highland

Stevens

Klondike

Wm, Belt

Lady Thompson

Wilson

]

FAIR TO

GOOD SHIPPERS

Bederwood

Kxcelsior

Qyde

Haverland

Excelsior

EXTRA EARLY FRUITING

Michel's

Texas

EARLY FRUITING

Bederwood

Helen Davis

Qyde

Highland

Warfield

liEDIUU SEASON FRUITING

Bubach

Lady Thompson

Glen Mary

Senator Dunlop

Haverland

Parson's Beauty

Klondike

Wm. Belt

Wlson

•

LATE FRUITING

Brandymne

Chesapeake

Cardinal

Marshall

Sample

VERY LATE FRUITING

Gandy

Stevens

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 'I97

•

FALL FRUITING

Americut

Frands

Autumn

Pan-American
Productive

STRONG P0LLENIZBR8

Bederwood

Parson's Beauty

Nfichel's

Senator Dunlop
Wm. Beit

GOOD POLLENIZER8

(But

not in the Strong class)

Americus

Helen Davis

Brandjrwine

Klondike

Chesapeake

Lady Thompson

Clyde

Marshall

Francis

Pan-American
Stevens

WEAK TO FAIR POLLENIZEM

Excelsior

Glen Mary

Gandy

Texas

ADAPTED TO INTERPLANT FOR POLLENUATIOS

Bederwood B with Highland P.
Bederwood B with Warfield P.
Bederwood B with Bubach P.
Senator Dunlop B with Haverland P.
Wm. Belt B with Glen Mary B (weak).
Senator Dunlop B with Cardinal P.
Senator Dunlop B with Gandy 3 (weak).
Senator Dunlop B with Sample P.
Pan-American B with Autumn P.
Pan-American B with Productive P.

Bubach
Gandy

VERT HEAVY TIELDERS

Highland
Klondike

198 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Glen Mary

Parson's Beauty

Haverland

Sample

Hden Davit

Senator Dunlop

Texas

GOOD TIBLDERS

Bederwood

Lady Thompson

Brandywine

Michel's

Cardinal

Stevens

Chesapeake

WarBeld

Qyde

Wm. Belt

Excelsior

WUson

FAIR TO GOOD TIELDBKa

Francis

MarshaU

VBRT LARGE BERRIES

Brandjrwine

Qyde

Bubach

Glen Mary

Chesapeake

Helen Davis

Marshall

LARGE BERRIES

Cardinal

Parson's Beauty

Frands

Sample

Gandy

Senator Dunlop

Haverland

Stevens

Highland

Texas

Klondike

Wm. Belt

Lady Thompson

Wilson

MEDIUM SIZE BERRIES

Americus

Michel's

Bederwood

Productive

Excelsior

Warfield

DARK RED BERRIES

(on clay soils)

Americui

Parson's Beauty

Elxcelsior

Productive (unattractive)

<-•.

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 1 99

Marshall Senator Dunlop

Pan-American (dull red) Texas (dark red cheek )

Warfield

RED BEUUE8

Klondike Sample (light red)

Michel's (crimson to red) Stevens

CRIMSON BERRIES

Brandymne Helen Davis

Cardinal (light crimson) Lady Thompson

Qyde Texas

Gandy (light crimson) Wm. Belt (dark crimson)

Glen Mary Wilson (dark crimson)

SCARLET BERRIES

Americus (light scarlet on soils other than clay)
Bederwood (light scarlet) Francis (light scarlet, glossy)

Bubach Haverland

Highland

BERRIES OF VERT GOOD QUAUTT

Brandywine Klondike

Bubach Marshall

Cardinal Michel's

Chesapeake Pan-American

Clyde Sample

Gandy Texas

Glen Mary Warfield

Haverland Wm. Belt

Helen Davis Wilson

BERRIES OF GOOD QUAUTT

Americus I£ghiand '

Autumn Lady Thompson

Bederwood Parson's Beauty

Excebior Senator Dunlop

Stevens

2O0 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Francis

BE&UE8 OF FAIR QUAUTT

Productive

LARGE ROOT DEVELOPMENT, DROUGHT-RESISTING PLANTS

Autumn Glen Mary

Bederwood

Lady Thompson

Stevens

VERT GOOD PLANT1CAXER8

liel'8 .

Stevens

GOOD PLANTIIAKER8

Autumn

Lady Thompson

Glen Mary

Parson's Beauty

Klondike

Sample

Senator Dunlop

■

WEAK PLANTlCAKERfl

Francis

Marshall

Gandy

Pan<American

'■

Texas

COSMOPOLITAN AS TO SOIL

Bubach

Glen Mary

Cardinal '

Wm. Belt

Warfield

FAIR TO GOOD AS TO ADAPTABILITY TO SOILS

• I

Parson's Beauty Senator Dunlop

Americus

VARIETIES FOR A CLAT SOIL

Gandy

Cardinal
Chesapeake

STRONG FROST RESISTERS

Gandy
Haverland
Pan-A^ierican

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 201

DI8EA8B F&EB VAUBTIBS

Cardtntl Chesapeake

8PECIALLT ADAPTED TO G»BBNB0U8B FORaHO

Marshall

ADAFTBD TO HILL METHOD AND HIGH CULTUU

Autumn Marshall

Gandy Productive

Senator Dunlop

KEY TO VARIETY CHART ON FOLLOWING PAGES

Origin Ark. — ^Arkansas. 111. — ^Illinois, etc

Sex B.-~Bi-sexnal. P.— PistUlatc.

Season, Ex. E/.— Extra Early. Ey.— Early. Med«— Medium.

L. — late, etc
Popularity Mid S.— Mid-South. M. W. — Mid-West. E. W.—

Everywhere, etc.
PoUeni%er F.— Fair. V. C—Very Good. W.— Weak. G.— Good
Skipper F.— Fair. G.—Good, etc.
Yield F.— Fair. G.~Good, etc
Form C.-— Conical. Obi.— Oblate. R. — Roundish.
Site M. — ^Medium. L. — ^Large. V.L. — ^Very large. S.—

Small.
Colour D.— Dark. R.— Red. C— Crimson. S.— Scarlet. L.—

Light.
Quality G.—Good, etc
Meat L.— Light. R.— Red. D.— Dark. S.— Scarlet. C—

Crimson.
Calyx G.— Green. Lt.— Light. B.— Bright. M.— Medium*

L. — Large. S. — Small.
Uses Des.— Dessert. Com.— Commercial Market. Can.— >

Cannery.
Foliage T.— Tall. L.— Ught. Lg.— Large. V.— Very, a—

Green. Vig.— Vigorous. H.— Healthy. Y.— Yd-

lowish. B.— Bright. D.— Dull. Upr.— Upright.

202

MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

Name of Variety

Origin

Sex

Season

Popularity

PoUiniaer

Shipper

Yield

Americus
Autumn*

Iowa

N.Y.

B
P

FaU
FaU

FtoG

• • • •

?
?

F
F

Bederwoodt
Bnmdywine

Pa.

B
B

E;ytoM

W
£

VG
G

FtoG
FtoG

G
6

Bubacii

• • • •

Cardinal

Chesapeake

Clydett

Ohio
Md.
Kan.

P
B
B

Ey to L

• • « •

G
FtoG

FtoG

G
G
G

Excelsior

Axk.

Ex Ey

Mid S

FtoG

Francist

Iowa

FaU

FtoG

Gandy

N.J.

WeakB

VUte

EMW

Glen Mary

Haverland

Helen Davis

Highland**

Klondike

Lady ThompaonT

Pa.

N.T.

Ind.

U.
N.C.
Mass.

B
P
B
P
B
B
B

E& W

E&W

FtoG

• ■ • •

FtoG
FtoG
FtoG

FtoG

VG
VG
VG
VG
VG
G
FtoG

Mtchd's

Axk.

ExEy

Pan-American
Parson's Beauty

N.Y.

B
B

FaU
M

?
N

FtoG
VG

?
VG

F
VG

Productive

N.Y.

FaU

• • • •

Sample

Senator Dunlop
Stevens
Texas

Mass.

HI.

N.J.
Texas

P
B
B
B

L
M

VL
ExEy

E
E&W

£
E&W

• • • •

FtoG

G
VG

Warfield
Wilson
Wm. Belt

111.
N.Y.
Ohio

! B

EMW

ENY
£ & W

• • • •

FtoG
VG

VG
G
G

G
G
G

*Fniit D R colour on day soil.

tLong bloomo', produces large amount of poUen.

ttRcQuires best management for success.

tYoung foliage smaU, feeble; old foliage vigorous, healthy.

••Light yellowish green foliage.

TFruit stems long.

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES

203

Fruit

Fonn

Sixe

Cotour

Qualitsr

Meat

Calyx

Uses

Foliage

R. Obi.

Des

StoM

RichR

Des

FixmLS

Can Des

De.T

Obi. C.

Can Des
Com

R. Obi.

Com

^'8'

LC %

Com Des

L Tough

Com

Obi. C.

LtoVL

Pink
Firm

*M**

Com Des
Can

Weak

L inside
R outside

Com
Des

Irreg.

MtoL

Des

GloeqrLG

Cockscol)

Glos^

DG.T.

VLC

Com Des

Leatheiy

GtoVG

Com Des

VLYG

Obi. C.

GtoVG

MtoL

Com Des

LtoVL

LCtoC

MtoL

Des Com

GJuipy

Solids

Com

VlS""

Obi.

GtoVG

RtoS

OmDes

R. Obi.

Double

Com Des

ExT.LG

Des

EzLg
LtoDG

Obi. C.

CtoR

Dem

Pink

LtoG

Des Com

LG.T
Upr

StoM

LduIlR

GtoVG

4 R

Des

DG.Vig

Obl.C.

GMild

Can Com

L.DG
Upr

Des

L. Thick

Unattr

Finn

Glosqr

Com Des

M toL

Com Des

T.B G

"m"

Com

LG.Vig

MtoL

RFinn

LBG

Des
Com Can

Idral C

GtoVG

Com Can

Vii

M to L

GtoVG

• ■ • •

Can Com

• « • •

Obi. C.

• • • •

Com Des

204 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

There is a worthy attempt on the part of
the American Pomological Society to sepa-
rate or divide up the United States into
eighteen districts and name the fruits that
are particularly adapted to each district as
well as those which are worth trying. This
is a most valuable work and should be
brought up to date each year in the case of
strawberries. The map here reproduced (on
page 205) is from Bulletin No. 151, Division
of Pomology, United States Department of
Agriculture.

The planter should consult the map to
determine the division in which he is located
and study the following list of suitable vari-
eties to plant in his section :

Div. i: Bederwood, Bnbach Na 5, Clyde, Crescent, Havcrland,

Warfield, Wilton.
Div. 2: Bnbach Na 5, Qyde, Crescent, Candy, Haverland, MicheTs

Eariy, Sharpless, Warfidd, Brandjrwine, Wilson.
Div. 3: Wm. Bdt, Bederwood, Bubach No. 5, Candy, Haverland,

Lady Thompson, Warfield, Brandywine, Wilson.
Div. 4: Bederwood, Bubach No. 5, Crescent, Candy, Haverland,

Michel's Early, Lady Thompson, Warfield, Brandywine, Wilson.
Div. 5: Candy, Michel's Eariy, Lady Thompson, Wilson.
DiT. 6: Michel's Early, Lady Thompson's Brandywine, Wilson.
Div. 7: Brandywine, Bubach Na 5, Crescent, Candy, Clen Mary.

Michel's Early, Lady Thompson.
Div. 8: Bederwood, Bubach No. 5, Crescent, Candy, Haverland*

Michel's Early, Sharpless, Warfield, WUson.
Div. 9: Bederwood, Crescent, Warfield, Brandyrnne, Wilson.
Div. 10: Crescent, Candy, Haverland, Warfield, Brandywine.

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 205

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2^P^r"

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206 MODERN STRAWBEKRY GROWING

Div. ii: Hoffman and Michel's Early are the only sorts mentioned
as having proved themselves adapted to this region in the list
prepared by the American Pomological Society.

Div. 12: Brandywine, Sharpless and Lady Thompson where irri-
gation can be provided.

Div. 13: Bederwood, Crescent, Haverland, Sharpless, Wilson.

Div. 14: Crescent, Bubach No. 5, Gandy, Haverland, Brandywine,
Wilson.

Div. 15: Jessie, Parker EUrle, Sharpless, Wilson.

Div. 16: Hood River, Sharpless, Brandywine, Wilson.

Div. 17: Sharpless, Brandywine.

Div. 18: Jessie, Sharpless. These sorts are only fairly well adapted
to the region.

Div. 19: Sharpless, Lady Thompson.

ORDERING PLANTS

One of the hardest things to decide upon
is from whom to order plants. As a general
rule, it is best to obtain them from a grower
who raises them near one's home. In a great
many cases plants can be obtained from this
source that are adapted both to the climate
and the soil, as well as to the market.

Then another consideration is that the
plants can be dug in the morning and planted
at once, and the largest amount of root
surface will be retained, roots will not dry
out, and the chances of successful trans-
planting will be greater.

However, desirable plants ofttimes cannot
be obtained nearby and it is then advisable to

< J

5 E

s =

ffl 1 sl

S 41 =

VARIETIES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 207

patronize one of the large reliable strawberry
plant specialists who offer specially grown and
pedigreed plants. Most of these firms ad-
vertise in reliable farm and garden papers,
and will treat your order, whether it be large
or small, with all due consideration. It is
best in ordering not only to specify the
variety, number of plants wanted, but also
whether you desire the roots or leaves pruned,
about what time you would want to receive
the plants, shipping directions, and some of
your conditions under which you are going
to place the plants, such as location, soil, etc.

The best time to order plants is in the late
winter. Do not wait until the rush is on
and some one else has secured the cream of
the plants, but have your order in early and
give the grower a chance and time to attend
properly to your shipment.

The foregoing descriptions of the success-
ful varieties of strawberries must not be
taken too literally by the amateur. It would
be better for him to take them more as a
guide, and test each of his selections before
planting on any large scale.

It would also be advisable for him to make
inquiries of successful growers in his section.

208 MODERN STRAWBERRY GROWING

giving special reference as to soil, moisture,
site, interplanting or interpoUination and
other points. It will often be found that
there is some variety other than any one
here mentioned that is particularly adapted
to the local conditions and market.

INDEX

Adaptation to so3, 4 ^
Alpine strawberry, The, z6i
American strawberry; What

is it? 179
August planting, 143

Back furrowing, 16
Baskets for market, 83
Berries for the home, 152
Bordeaux mixture, 68
Breeding new varieties, Z3Z
Burning the bed, 99

Companion crops, 35

Cooling, 81

Cost of production, 133

Crates^ 84

Croppmg, how bng, 93

Crops, Previous, 10

Cross-breeding records, 133

Crown eaters, 62

Cultivate, how often, 48

Cultivating old beds, 49

Cultivation, 44, 45

Depth to plant, 35
Diseases, 60

Exposure, 6

Fall-bearing strawberries, 171
Fall planting, 28
FertiUzers, 38

formuhe, 42

when to apply, 43
Field spraying, 71
Flooding, 53
Flower, Parts of, 117
Forcing, Winter, xoi

Freezing in pots, 105
Frost, Protection from, 57
Fruit-injuring insects, 65
Fruits or plants, 114
Fungous diseases, 66

Grading, 76

Growth versus fruit, 41

Harrowing, 15
Hedge row, 151

double, 33

single, ^2
TTill nlantmff. vl
History of the strawbeny,

179
Home garden, 140
How many plants, 36

Insects, 60
Intercropping, 35
Irrigation, 49

and yidd, 52

systems, 53

Judging and scoring, 127
une bug, 6z

Kerosene emulsion, 70

Leaf bum, 44

eaters, 64

roller, 64

spot, 67
Level culture, 17

209

2IO

INDEX

Manure, 39
Manuring, 11, 158
Marking, 19
Matted row, 31
Mulching, 46, 88, 147

Ordering plants, 206
Over-production, 112
Overhead irrigation, 56

Packing house, 86

rules, 79
Pedigree plants, 115
Pickers' rules, 75
Picking, 73

prices for, 77

stands, 85
Plant making qualities, Z12
Planting, 23, 145

systems, 31
Plants for die new bed, 151

receiving, 22
Plowing, 12

fall, 13
Poisons, 68
Pollen, spread of, 119
Pollination, 107, 116
Pot-grown plants, 97

for fall, 113
Potted plants, convenience

of, 103
Power spraying, 71
Profits, 135, 137
Propagation, no

Red spider, 67

Refrigerator crates, 85

Renovating the old bed, 88

Rolling, 17

Root eaters, 61

Runners, 150
cutting, 49
propagating, in
rooting in pots, 113

Score card, 129

Scorixxjg and judging, 147

Selection, Improvement by,

n6
Shipping, 80
Site, Selection of, 3
Slope vs. level, 5
Slug, 6s

Sod, dd, inadvisable, 7
Soil, adapting, 9

and fertilizers, 41

ideal, 7
Spraying, 60
Spring planting, 148
Sterility, Possible cause of,

"9
Strawberries and vegetables

together, 149
Summer cultivation, 149
planting, 28

Tally checks, 77
Tarnished plant bug, 66
Temperatiures under glass,

106
Thinning, 108
Tillage, 51

benefits of, 46
Tools, 47

Transportation, 86
Trenching, 144

Varieties for Pomological Dis-
tricts, 204
for speaal purposes, 190

Water and health, 58

quantity used, 45
Watering, 146
When to plant, 28
White gruD, 7, 61

Yields, Probable, 136

THE COUNTKY LIFE PRESS
OABDEN CITY, N. Y,

■<

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the Library on or before the last date
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